https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/773059.page

I really liked this thread idea by Argive last year! After a stressful couple of years where I got very excited about the existence of Start Collecting sets and discounted boxed sets, I have accumulated QUITE a large "pile of shame". The pile is also diverse enough that I have no real excuse of getting bored with things, because there is always something else in the pile that could hold my interest in that case.

So, I think I need to draw a line in the sand. The Pile needs to shrink. This thread is intended to be a place where others who find themselves feeling the same can band together, give each other some motivation to stick to our goals and confess when we fail to meet them.

My goal: Cessation of buying of new miniatures, with only crafting materials used in terrain building being allowed as acceptable spending.
My biggest weaknesses: I am excited to make a small force for all the stuff I think is cool in 40K. At the moment, I have unbuilt Necrons, Tau, Tyranids and unpainted Imperial Guard, Space Marines, Orks and Chaos Space Marines. A mad urge inside my mind tells me I need to add Dark Eldar to this so I can have a full set of factions that I like the look of.
The second weakness is, I am a sucker for anything where I think it will go out of production, like limited runs for two army sets, or when GW announces they are gonna discontinue stuff.
The third weakness, buying stuff before a price rise.

I am minded to be pretty hardline with myself, because I have definitely let things get out of hand (the 40K pile of shame referenced here is only half the story, Fantasy is similar and let's not discuss historicals...). I know some people do a "paint twice as much as I buy" rule, which I think is cool, but I am gonna say no new stuff this year, just focus on what I have and get it sorted out. I am not minded to sell off any of my stuff, because I have always regretted that later, but it should at least get painted and get properly used at some point!

What about you? Do you want to fight your pile of shame? What are your goals?
Apologies to Argive, your thread was six months old by now so I wasn't sure whether to necro it or not!

I will join the crusade. I have quite the pile for fantasy. And a modest amount of 40k. I have been chipping away build.wise.but Indo need to step.up my paint game.

I will join the challenge as well, while my pile of shame is not huge...I hate looking at it.

Also I want to spend less this year and spend more time playing.

I commit not to buy another kit until the Pile of Shame has been completed

My pile of shame grew over the last two weeks.

The new year resolution to avoid the pub and instead hobby stuff is not going well

I'm going to be particularly brave and tell you guys what I have to build and paint before I can buy another kit:
1. Fyreslayers - Start Collecting Box
2. Fyreslyers - Hearthguard Beserkers
3. Gotrek
4. Death Guard Foul Blightspawn
5. 2 Death Guard Easy Build kits of Plague Marines (6 Plague
Marines)
6. Death Guard Myphitic Blight Hauler

I am entering year four of serious work on my pile of shame, which continues to grow due to a nasty little hobby: buying and selling large lots of used Warhammer. Shameless plug: https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/675393.page Between swap meets, FB groups, and friends, I have brought in multiple huge lots of stuff, sold most of it, made profit, and kept the best stuff. Two problems: first, "the best stuff" still adds up quickly, and second, I just hit another swap meet on Sunday. Guess who is now the proud owner of a couple hundred Dark Eldar and Ork models?

While those are going on ebay sooner rather than later, I still have some serious stuff to paint. Space Marines, Eldar, Chaos, and Grey Knights all have substantial armies to strip, rebuild, and paint, while Admech, knights, DA, and BA all have at least 1k points to go.

Chipping away at the unpainted masses (40k or otherwise) is the never ending battle.

That I can commit to continuing in 2020.
I will not lie to you & say I won't be buying more models.

Well, I'm feeling good about myself at the moment, as year on year I've painted more and more miniatures for the last 3 years. That said, I've also bought more, but I've managed to clear out a lot of my Eldar and Necrons the last 2 years thanks to my Christmas projects, and I'm doing a small Horus Heresy army that's using up my surplus Skitarii by converting them to Tech Thralls. But when the Desert of the Dead Kickstarter fulfills I'll be getting a mountain of elf models, Hopefully I can avoid buying too much stuff this year - I'm deliberately avoiding Sisters of Battle (maybe a few years down the road) - and clear out the old backlog. Maybe I'll do some Tau as my next Christmas project.

I’ll be working hard on my mountain of shame again this year.

This is a year that my mountain of shame will suffer a net loss, I’m determined! I’ve got almost all of the models I need for many armies, and so I fully intend to paint more than I buy.

I’ve even finally started on the Tyranid army I started buying models for 2.5 years ago.

So far this year I’ve painted 3 models, and bought 0.

Def would need but with sisters coming and having joined aos escalation league can't really do. Might do half year though i suspect buying miniatures 2021 will get sudden price jums so maybe buy models in advance

My pile of shame is all hidden in boxes
MY goal is to consolidate and eventually sell many things from projects i have long ago abandoned.

I feel my 'pile of shame' barely qualifies, even though it is a significant source of anxiety for me. I don't like having more than 20 things unbuilt/unpainted lying around, it makes me feel overwhelmed and I tend to just sit and look at it, worrying about how much painting I have to do rather than just cracking on.

Nonetheless, every little helps, right? No more purchases until the following is/are done;

9 Drukhari Wyches
10 Drukhari Kabilites
Succubus
5 Renegade Militia
2 Malefic Lords
Emperor's Children Lord, 3 Sorcerors, Dark Apostle
Syll'Esske
Converted Epitome

Administratum
Statue Garden

Which is only 36 individual things, but is more than i managed in 2019.

About half way through last year..... I ran out of stuff to paint!

I have since rectified that situation, but will NOT be joining the challenge this year. I have a few more Ancients to add to my collection first.

I started aggressively attacking the pile about a year ago and made some solid progress last year that I kind of backpeddled on with some holiday bundles. Still down pretty significantly, but I need to spend this year really mastering my airbrush process to get through a bunch of large units. Definitely need to reduce what I buy to get through it, but also need to focus on a few things that feel large but I could get through quickly if I focused.

As I pledge, I want to get anything I buy painted within a couple months. No buying things for the future as by the time the future gets here there's likely something else I'll want. If something is on my backlog, its likely there for a reason after all. Most of what I bought last year is painted actually.... its the stuff I bought years ago that gets me...

I am double ashamed when I see other people posting their "pile of shame" stuff and think about how much is in mine. Really hardens my resolve (while making me feel like I am nuts). I guess I have been collecting since the 90s and rarely ever sold stuff, but I have been especially bad in the last 3 years!

I started in 1996, but took a short break from 1998 to 2009, when DoW reeled me back in.

Between 2009 - 2014 I amassed a steamer-trunk full of NIB or grey-on-sprue kits; ca. 6k Tyranids, 6k Blood Angels, 5k Imperial Guard, 3k CSM, bits of Dark Angels and Grey Knights... which is why I now try to keep it under 20 things to-do.

Even though I ferociously attack the pile of shame, I still have a substantial mountain left, notably standing in the way are 5 knight class titans(crusader, valiant, porphyrion; FW chaos knight, taunar); if I can get 2-3 of them done along with my regular progress, I’d be very happy.

I’m also in the progress to obtain and someday paint 1k IG infantry, about 850 obtained, 750 painted.

https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/767743.page

Years ago I set a goal of painting or selling twice as many models as I would allow myself to buy. It has worked over time and has greatly reduced the pile of shame.

Cheers,

CB

My pile is not that big, but big enough considering my models merely sit in a display cabinet. I tried this last year and failed miserably. Going to make a concerted effort this year. I don't think I'll not buy any new models as I've found a nice source of 54mm Inquisitor models, and the fallout miniatures are very tempting, but I'll definitely be trying to reduce my pile, and get more of my conversions and kitbashes painted.

I have.

Maschinen krieger falke
Khârn the betrayer(both new and old)
Magnus the red
Inquisitor eisenhorn
Krieger thrax
Cherubael
Calas typhon
A couple of kitbashed night lords
Forge world knight scion
Forge world gabriel angelos
The hobbit thorin oaken shield and azog
Ak interactive mig 21
Couple of terminator kitbashes
Redemptor dreadnaught
New chaos termies
New chaos havocs
11 man world eaters kill team
Warcry minis

My shame has spanned decades.
Last year was putting a strong dent in it but completely finished models of a complete army is an insane minority.

I would strongly suggest the following :
- Open the boxes and look in, I was suprised how many of these things i started and set down.
- Put any decals in baggies, humid basements tend to kill these.

Black Templar is my most complete army but they are TRUE old-marines from the original 1" bases and many metal.

My NEW push is taking all those Primaris and rolling them exclusively into an Ultramarine army.
I have some 90+ models of these guys with their first base coats on them and 30 guys at the stage ready for shading and edge highlighting.

Full armies of Imperial Knights, Inquisition, IG/AM/Scions, Grey Knights, Mechanicus, Death Watch and a massive collection of various Chaos is bordering on insane.
Never mind any other games (Bolt Action, Malifaux, Robotech, Battletech, Warmachine-intro army only)... yeah... not right upstairs for sure.

90% is built (!!!) as well as primed and based... painting however... 10% maybe (my standard of complete)? 30% may have some base colours on them.

Heck, I opened up some boxes and found I was 80% done on some models and had magnets in them and only had to finish the darn things (usually vehicles).

So yeah, my big push is to get those Ultramarines done-done, no half finished stuff.
Then work on all those "soup" groups that may play nice with either Space Marine group.
Hell I have one Imperial Knight I am quite proud of and just needs some small details and decals.

That is my plan, baby steps.

Last year I made a list of all the stuff I had bought off Ebay over however far back my history went. The intention was to paint all of that before I bought anything new.

That list keeps growing...I just bought a handful of Long Drong's Slayer Pirates just because I could.

The pile of shame will grow...
There is not stopping it...
Resistance is futile.

The war on the unpainted genestealers is already underway!

Had to come up with two colours that could use the same wash though.

I think I've moved on from the pile of shame to the geological feature of shame.

Just can't stop with the shiny plastic, despite not having played in many years (I will, just as soon as I have an actual force built and ready to play!)

I'd love to say Beastgrave (easy to play quickish games, hopefully find a couple of local players) will be my next and last purchase until the ascent of shame is well underway.... But pointy elves, new Tau, SoB, Seraphon??? Yeah.. it'll grow.

 Da Boss wrote:
What about you? Do you want to fight your pile of shame? What are your goals?

My Great Pile of Shame is perhaps too much to tackle in one year, but my goal is to get all of my terrain built and then start painting it.

Once the Great Expansion is complete, I'll have everything I need.

For a bit now one of my annual pledges is to paint more than I buy. Last year was a good year. I painted 53 models, and only bought 8.

Now, I got more than 8 models. I don’t count gifts. Even ones where I’m given a chunk of cash and told to get something I want. But that only adds another ~20 models. Still a net loss for the pile of shame.

This year I think might work out OK. I’ve got a healthy enough stock of things to work on, I don’t feel compelled to pick up any new stuff. Except maybe plastic aspect warriors. Maybe some new marines if they are extra shiny. Or have good rules. Or I suffer a moment of weakness...

Still, one of my other goals is to maintain a 1-a-week pace, so I should be able to make 52 models transcend from the grey legions. This year, it might not be my own pile of shame though. I’m painting my friends SoB box, so that’s half a year of work there. If I can keep my purchases to under two dozen minis, I should be able to get another year of progress against the Dread Pile.

Alas, I doubt my mountain can even be codified....I will give it a valiant effort,

I was one model away from having banished my pile of shame.

Then I bought 10 cultists to get the heavy stubbers. Then, my grandmother was driving me by the local hobby store on the way to church, and asked if I needed to stop in there. I thought I was just going to get paint, but I bought Abaddon.

A day later I found a chaos lord still on the sprue in a old box. He didn't have a base. So I went to the hobby store. THEY WERE OUT OF BASES!

So I bought a chaos sorcerer for the base I needed.

So much shame...

On the bright side, the cultists are almost finished, and the three characters shouldn't take that long to finish. After that I have three terrain pieces I want to finish, and then I can buy more stuff! (Assuming I don't buy more stuff along the way...)

 Da Boss wrote:
https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/773059.page

I really liked this thread idea by Argive last year! After a stressful couple of years where I got very excited about the existence of Start Collecting sets and discounted boxed sets, I have accumulated QUITE a large "pile of shame". The pile is also diverse enough that I have no real excuse of getting bored with things, because there is always something else in the pile that could hold my interest in that case.

So, I think I need to draw a line in the sand. The Pile needs to shrink. This thread is intended to be a place where others who find themselves feeling the same can band together, give each other some motivation to stick to our goals and confess when we fail to meet them.

My goal: Cessation of buying of new miniatures, with only crafting materials used in terrain building being allowed as acceptable spending.
My biggest weaknesses: I am excited to make a small force for all the stuff I think is cool in 40K. At the moment, I have unbuilt Necrons, Tau, Tyranids and unpainted Imperial Guard, Space Marines, Orks and Chaos Space Marines. A mad urge inside my mind tells me I need to add Dark Eldar to this so I can have a full set of factions that I like the look of.
The second weakness is, I am a sucker for anything where I think it will go out of production, like limited runs for two army sets, or when GW announces they are gonna discontinue stuff.
The third weakness, buying stuff before a price rise.

I am minded to be pretty hardline with myself, because I have definitely let things get out of hand (the 40K pile of shame referenced here is only half the story, Fantasy is similar and let's not discuss historicals...). I know some people do a "paint twice as much as I buy" rule, which I think is cool, but I am gonna say no new stuff this year, just focus on what I have and get it sorted out. I am not minded to sell off any of my stuff, because I have always regretted that later, but it should at least get painted and get properly used at some point!

What about you? Do you want to fight your pile of shame? What are your goals?
Apologies to Argive, your thread was six months old by now so I wasn't sure whether to necro it or not!

Hear!! Hear! Brother!

I love the fact the dream of fighting the never ending battle is alive!
Yarrrr!!! No need for apologies, getting told off by a mod is never fun

To be honest I have fallen of the waggon recently..
My pile has grown, and I have lots sight somewhat of the fight.. So this is a great reminder of what needs to be done!

I already have a new years resolution of focusing on my fitness and health as I have let myself go over the last 1.5 years since meeting my woman (life eh ?)
But I will make another commitment regarding more purchases.
TBH if FW still had carmine and magma dragon on sale I would have picked those up this month which I was planning but as they are gone there is no longer anything I truly want.

I have been in build mode for the last couple weeks and going strong. In fact I'm quite in the zone building all the time in my spare time..
Over the last 2 weeks I have built and based: 18 Storm guardians, 15 Dire Avengers, 5 wraithguard, converted and built 2 wraith lords, building and magnetizing another 5 CC wraith blades.

On the pile que I have:

Stripping:
Asurmen
Warp spiders

(And a huge backlog I'm actually ashamed of so I deleted the list...)

So yeah. Time to stick the fight.
Hopefully My house purchase will go through sooner rather than later so that I can get that dedicated hobby/airbrush space which will make things much much easier.

My Goal this year: Build every bit of Eldar I have and aim to paint at least 50% of it.

My pile o' is:

To build:
5 necron immortals
necron floaty weapon platform
5 GSC bikers

To paint:
The items above
15 OOP necron warriors
3 little frog guys from deep undercuts
5 primaris tactical type guys
5 primaris jump pack guys
12 necron warriors

The reduction in the BUILD pile of shame went well last year. Just the space wolves to finish off and a few bits and bobs and repairs.

The PAINT pile of shame... 4 years worth.. maybe 6....?

I have 20 years of shame backlog and since 2 months ago I even have the ability to 3D print my own shame at home.

A good first step would be to NOT start any new full-blown armies this year.

Contrast does make things easier now. I am churning through Gloomspite Gitz at a respectable rate. Hopefully I paint 2-3 armies in 2020 plus some skirmish factions.

 MegaDave wrote:
I was one model away from having banished my pile of shame.

That was a brush with death.

Remember, you can’t die when you have models left to paint. Some say you die when you finish the last one. Best not to take the chance.

You want to have some workflow, but not a massive pile of shame. You can't let it run out though.

Reading other people's piles and seeing how much more in control they are, I think I need to post mine in chunks so I don't get too depressed with myself! Edit: I had to add more minis I remembered...
Warhammer Fantasy


While writing this I realised I have the entire Red Box Games kickstarter stuff to catalogue still.

Da Boss, you'd feel better if I posted my backlog. I have it all logged in a kanban board. Honestly I should probably just sell most of it, since I don't actually have much opportunity to play 40k or Age of Sigmar anymore, just Kill Team on occasion, and the board games like Silver Tower.

That said, I'm currently painting Blackstone Fortress stuff and some Kill Team terrain. I still have more Kill Team terrain to finish assembling and then painting.

ccs wrote:
Chipping away at the unpainted masses (40k or otherwise) is the never ending battle.

That I can commit to continuing in 2020.
I will not lie to you & say I won't be buying more models.

Ditto here.
New Sisters are going to have to get gotten, sadly enough,
but I do hope that they do not sit as long as the old one's had -
I have been carrying metal Sisters from country to country for the past 20 years,
waiting to be painted once the collection is collected.

This should be the year that the collection gets collected.

Otherwise, i can promise to remain cognizant of my pile of (petrified) shame,
and to limit unplanned purchases accordingly.

I actually did fairly well near the tail end of 2019 to finish up several of my existing armies, but of course I did the thing where I ended up buying into two brand new armies: Ossiarch Bonereapers and Infinity Combined.

As it stands, I have three outstanding projects that I intend to complete by the end of 2020:

Ossiarch Bonereapers

Infinity Combined

Adeptus Custodes (1k for Adepticon)

I can't promise I won't buy more for any of those projects, because I know with absolute certainty that's not going to happen (in fact, I'm going to be buying some more stuff for my Ossiarchs tonight as I finalize my list). But the goal is that by the end of the year, regardless of what else I add to them, those 3 armies will be done.

From there, I do have a sizeable (re: over 10) backlog of display pieces that I've slowly collected because of sales, impulse buys, etc. I resolve not to buy anything that contributes to that pile until I have reduced that pile to 0.

In an ideal world, and I am going to push hard for it, I want to end 2020 with no unpainted models. I'll more than likely fail, as I have a few Creature Caster models I know will eat up more time than I can afford this year. Maybe. But that's what I'm aiming for.

I mostly scratchbuild since getting back into gaming a few months back, and so I have hoarded a load of trash (empty packages, pens, broken electronics etc) that I at the time thought could be useful for something. It's reasonably tucked away, but an utterly shameful display for anyone opening the cupboards

I realize it doesn't qualify for this as I can just toss all of it without remorse, but that is my hobby "pile of shame" and something I will need to downsize. So basically, clean out my god damn apartment.

Any pile of shame welcome in this thread. My terrain building similarly has a lot of stuff collected together in a big transparent plastic container.

My major projects I've got lined up:

- Gloomspite Gitz army: one I look to and wonder why I would do such a thing to myself, and then I see the models are remember... that's why...

- I need to do a major update to my 40k collection. I've drifted through 8th with a Knight and loyal 32 to support my Deathwatch, but now we finally have Sisters in plastic and I really want to field the different aspects of the inquisition.

- Wavering on whether I should paint Godtear. Leaning towards yes, but the models are quite playable as is.

After that, I start to get into the real backlog of unpainted stuff. Lots of Warmachine units or Malifaux masters I picked up for that one list over the years and stuff like that. Planning beyond the above though is what gets me in trouble. Get something for my next project but by the time that comes around something new has my undivided attention. Been trying to focus on one thing at a time so when these new shinies come up, I can buy them and get them painted rather than put them in the queue. I'd just like to also get that queue out of my hair.

I only got back in to the hobby last year but decided to not buy any new minis and paint the pile my brother and I collected as kids. It went pretty well as I painted/finished/repainted 100 minis... but I also grew my pile by 49 by buying Blackstone Fortress along wit the Dreaded Ambull and Traitor Command still a net reduction of 51 ain’t bad! 2020 hasn’t started too great as I also bought Blackstone Fortress: Escalation and haven’t finished anything yet!

However, I’ve decided to get organised to correct my -13 score for the year by bagging up my projects;

The columns running left to right are;
Requires stripping
- Bjorn the Fellhanded
- 2nd Edition Box Set Marines
- Mordian Iron Guard
- Space Wolves Long Fangs and a Wolf Guard Captain,
- more 2nd Edition Box Set Marines
- RT Terminators (not shown as bathing in dettol)
- Space Wolves Terminators (taking a bath with the RT Termies)
Nearly compete old painjob, but needing rebase
- High Elf Archers inc Champion,
- High Elf Repeater Bolt Thrower,
- High Elf Spearmen inc Standard Bearer, Champion, Musician
- High Elf Silver Helms inc Mage on Unicorn, Champion and Standard Bearer),
Ready for painting or tarting up
- BattleMasters Chaos Archers
- BattleMasters Chaos Knights,
- Orks & Gretchin inc Ghazghull Thrakka,
- Blood Angels to finish my first squad plus a Standard Bearer),
- Blackstone Fortress good guys (not shown)
- Ambull and babies (not shown)
- Space Wolves Iron Priest and Njal Stormcaller (not shown)
Need priming and/or building
- Dwarves,
- Ork warbikes,
- 1 High Elf Silver Helm
- High Elf Spearmen to compete earlier listed units
- A box of Ork boys

I doubt I’ll get through it all but If I get through another 100 I’ll be chuffed!

Good luck to all for getting through their pile and showing some restraint on their credit card!

 gobert wrote:
I only got back in to the hobby last year but decided to not buy any new minis and paint the pile my brother and I collected as kids. It went pretty well as I painted/finished/repainted 100 minis... but I also grew my pile by 49 by buying Blackstone Fortress along wit the Dreaded Ambull and Traitor Command still a net reduction of 51 ain’t bad! 2020 hasn’t started too great as I also bought Blackstone Fortress: Escalation and haven’t finished anything yet!

However, I’ve decided to get organised to correct my -13 score for the year by bagging up my projects;

The columns running left to right are;
Requires stripping
- Bjorn the Fellhanded
- 2nd Edition Box Set Marines
- Mordian Iron Guard
- Space Wolves Long Fangs and a Wolf Guard Captain,
- more 2nd Edition Box Set Marines
- RT Terminators (not shown as bathing in dettol)
- Space Wolves Terminators (taking a bath with the RT Termies)
Nearly compete old painjob, but needing rebase
- High Elf Archers inc Champion,
- High Elf Repeater Bolt Thrower,
- High Elf Spearmen inc Standard Bearer, Champion, Musician
- High Elf Silver Helms inc Mage on Unicorn, Champion and Standard Bearer),
Ready for painting or tarting up
- BattleMasters Chaos Archers
- BattleMasters Chaos Knights,
- Orks & Gretchin inc Ghazghull Thrakka,
- Blood Angels to finish my first squad plus a Standard Bearer),
- Blackstone Fortress good guys (not shown)
- Ambull and babies (not shown)
- Space Wolves Iron Priest and Njal Stormcaller (not shown)
Need priming and/or building
- Dwarves,
- Ork warbikes,
- 1 High Elf Silver Helm
- High Elf Spearmen to compete earlier listed units
- A box of Ork boys

I doubt I’ll get through it all but If I get through another 100 I’ll be chuffed!

Good luck to all for getting through their pile and showing some restraint on their credit card!

Beatiful collection of vintage stuff that you have a history with. Enjoy the work sir. Im very envious.

Wish I had the warhams from the days of childhood and not sold them for nickles and dimes beer money

 Nevelon wrote:

 MegaDave wrote:
I was one model away from having banished my pile of shame.

That was a brush with death.

Remember, you can’t die when you have models left to paint. Some say you die when you finish the last one. Best not to take the chance.

You want to have some workflow, but not a massive pile of shame. You can't let it run out though.

If that’s the case, I will live forever.

My pile of shame, some 30+ years old, has been fluctuating up and down this last year. I have made great strides on assembling and painting, but have been busy accumulating too. I don’t even bother to count my board game minis.

I have been keeping on top of keeping my Tau army painted, but just picked up a handful of 3rd party speeder bikes to assemble and paint.

On my stack to try and complete this year.

Castellanand Armigers (Apocalypse set)
Admech Transports (2), Ambots, Onagers (2) and Ruststalkers
Necrons from Forgebane
Imperial Guard Heavy Weapons
GSC Goliaths (2), Familiars (2)
Gates of Antares armies (to use as Gu’vessa for Tau)
Stormcast from boxed starter(as Custodes)
Complete frigate, brigantine and troops for Blood & Plunder
Crossing my fingers I can get to my guest Eldar army by the end of the year. This is my goal for this year, still much more to tackle

The big thing for this year is to get over my fear of the new airbrush I bought and use it to help me power through some of my minis.

My first effort to get the pile reduced: Start Collecting Beastmen fully assembled. Just need to texture the bases and I will get to painting them. These guys jumped the queue because my student dungeons and dragons group are investigating a ruined city over run with beastmen, and the Cygor is the centrepiece monster for that quest.


I always find painting stuff for a gaming use to be a huge motivator.

I am part of this also.. working on my plasma pipes terrain and will follow it with working on death world stuff..

My biggest problem is I can only prime outside, so getting weather that is not below freezing during the next few months is my stumbling block.

Kicked off my effort by trying to make something passable from all the goofiest bits from the Possessed sprues.

I was thinking about this myself recently, so I'll join in. My plan is to complete at least one model per month. This might seem like setting the bar awfully low, but the models could be anything from tiny Reaper miniatures to full 1:144 kits.

Got through the Endless Spells for Gitz over the weekend. Painting all that up will clear a huge chunk of the pile. Sadly, its not the best time of year for a mass priming session....

I finished my 16 Genestealers, still not bought anything new, even with the new sisters being released. I'm thinking of setting myself a realistic challenge before I start buying SoB. I might see if I can get to 100 painted models before any purchases. That should take me a few months.

Yeah I think it is a good idea to set a goal that keeps things fun and achievable. I am only going so hardcore because I have been pretty badly behaved and want to prove I can do it.

Still weirdly tempted with Dark Eldar, but I know it is just the mad completionist in me and it can wait a year.

It’a the Christmas battleforces that always get me. I bought 4 this Christmas gone (2 nids, 2 chaos) and i’m not even going to say how many the year before.

Limited supply, large discounts...it is a toxic brew! Same for me when I heard the Start Collecting sets were gonna increase in price. I ended up getting Greenskins, Stormcast, Beasts of Chaos, Slaves to Darkness and Nurgle Demons...that's before I look at my 40K stuff.

Knowing that Brexit is coming down the line and it might be more complicated to ship from smaller British producers also niggles at me, but I am telling myself that that is irrelevant until I have eaten into my pile of shame significantly, and I have til the end of 2020 to order stuff and the transition will probably be extended anyway.

Haha, it does have a tendency to lead to monumental piles of unpainted plastic.

People get me to buy more.... It's not my fault!
Beastgrave: I now have 4 sides to play.
AoS: Looncurse Sylvaneth expanded to >1000 points, and now Aether Wars Drop-Dorfs.
Deadzone: which we all bought into ages ago, and has kicked off again. A half-painted set of Enforcers, so far.

But, I forget what is in the pile so far anyway, and it gets bigger.
My WiP stacks of take-away tubs are overflowing, and the boxes of sprues are forcing my foam cases off the shelf.



So first, Harlequins. I bought 2 sets of troops with transports, 2 packs of bikes and one of each of the bosses. That can't be too hard to clear.
Then, onto Guardsmen. I have no HWT ready to use, so my IG get pasted most games. That, and a 2nd Chimera.

My pile of shame is monstrous and overwhelming. KSs really did me in. I will just never get HATE all the way painted and the same goes for Zcide Invader. I already promised my better half that I wouldn't buy any more miniatures for six months... Almost half way through month one... But I will make it
I have made good progress on my ASOIAF miniatures with three units of FreeFolk close to done and two units of Nights Watch about 60% done.

Too much to list on here so for my sanity I’m sticking to a couple of projects this year.

1. Build paint the Lotr box set, was given that one for Xmas and felt like a child on Christmas Day again opening up that box.

2. Team Yankee, more us stuff coming out later in the year. Apache gunships and Bradley ifvs on the way so it’s full speed ahead for desert storm.
Then will have to add an Iraqi force although trying to not buy many minis this year.

3. Build the rest of the Star Wars legion starter set.

Also have some 40k stuff I wanted to build but just not feeling that one at the moment. The amount of extra books needed that take up space just isn’t worth it for me. Still disappointed with the lack up miniature update the Black Templar’s had. So maybe in the future il take another look at 40k.

I made progress on what I wanted to get done this year.....



.... a unit of 10 Greek Peltasts for Men of Bronze. They still need basing, but I will do that when a couple more Greek units get done. I also assembled two more Hoplite units, a Lizzie Blood Bowl team, and some assorted D&D miniatures for my group/generic Fantasy games.....

Okay, let's do this

My yearly (hopefully monthly) project is:

1- Painting my 5 Flash Gitz
2- Painting my Warboss on Wartrike
Maybe I'll prime and paint a Snazzwagon too, depends on the time

Moved in the wrong direction this weekend, but Sisters box essentially necessitated that. Got it all built at least and can really focus on getting my Inquisition painted now.

Crisis Protocol also briefly returned to an unfinished state, but we have Venom painted and are all good again.

Nice work on those Greeks!

LunarSol: I have been wavering a lot on Minotaurs, because I am currently thinking about my Beasts of Chaos a lot.

Haven't made any progress because I have basically just been working and sleeping for the past 10 days (report season, so I have been grading papers constantly for weeks now). Hoping to finally be free of taking work home this week and can crack on with my beasts of chaos. Very excited to paint them for Age of Fantasy and Dungeons and Dragons.

Painted more last year than I ever have. Year before I was glad to have got the Shadows Over Hammerhall painted along with some other stuff. Last year I painted the Sisters army box (finished it on the 30th December I think), a bunch of Death Guard and some Blood Angels from the Conquest magazine, and a fair chunk of Chaos Marines from the new kits and the Dark Vengeance sprues. Long ways to go on some of that.

If we're going strictly on what I've bought this year vs what I've painted, I'm way ahead so far. I bought the base box for the Batman Gotham City Chronicles game just before Christmas and it arrived New Year's Eve, in time for me to get a couple of models done by Jan 1st. So far on that I've done around 40 models. Still about 120 to go. Haven't bought anything new to paint this year. Sisters are probably going to be my first purchases, but pay day is a while away yet so I'll just be painting Batman stuff til then.

My pile of shame is pretty large though, I have roughly 500-750pts worth each of Tyranids, Tau, Guard, Necrons and Death Watch, and a little more of various flavours of Eldar. Some Ad-Mech which are probably going to be conversion fodder, and a couple of squads of GSC. Most unbuilt. There's older models I either haven't painted or want to bring up to date. Half of Blackstone Fortress as well. The Kill Team starter terrain, and most of the terrain from Conquest is unpainted still. And the Rampart Kickstarter. A few ebay buys, Calth and Prospero Terminators and 20 Marines, I'm not even sure what else is lurking...

Definitely looking to cut down on how much I buy until I paint more. Tau aren't even touched yet, and I think I am happy holding off on them for now. Going to get more Sisters, but they're going to be maybe a larger project. First lot went together and painted up in no time really, so might just get them as a treat/break between other stuff. My Chaos/Fallen project is quite expansive, that and my BA being my main armies, there's going to be stuff from both of them but I don't actually need to buy anything new for a while. I really want to get my hands on a Custodes Jetbike to finish off the allied detachment I have built and painted. Kinda wish they were sold as singles, but might be just as cheap and easy to buy a whole squad.
With GW pricing the way it is I've been strongly considering mostly just getting bundle boxes, or at least SC! sets for the time being, but every now and then stuff does come along that I really want.

After burning out getting my army finished for a tournament (and failing to finish!) and with added family stresses and job worries, I'm finally going to finish my marines. It's not even a lot, I need to get it done!

I also have the limited box of sisters of battle, but that's on the back burner until I finish my marines.

Finished up my Dreadknights last night. Time to focus on the sisters. Trying to decide on the color scheme still. I'll probably stick with Martyred Lady just because the rest of my inquisition is already black, silver trim, red cloth, but I'm not 100% sold on it yet.

Done a ton of work on the pile last year, getting the pile organized by army project and sub-projects and moving them out of cardboard boxes in the cellar and into plastic boxes in my hobby room. Also sold of several armies and reduced various others and of course painted a lot of minis.

This year, I am looking at wrapping up several sub-projects:
- Build and paint part of Tilean Dogs of War army (approx 60 minis)
- Build and paint Empire Engineers Guild army (approx 40 minis, including 4 war wagons)
- Some random units for Empire (knights panther, grudgebringer infantry, ostermark halberds)
- Touch-up Kislev army (20-ish minis)
- Finish Norscan Chaos army except trolls (10-ish large minis, including war mammoth)
- Finish up Post-Apoc and Zombie collection (approx 100 minis, half only missing basing)
- Build and paint 4 tanks and a super heavy for my death corps

So 250-ish minis to paint this year. As I managed to blunder into NMM for the Dogs of War project, it might be too optimistic, but good to have an ambitious goal

And also planning to sell a bunch of stuff off to further reduce the pile.

 Illumini wrote:
Done a ton of work on the pile last year, getting the pile organized by army project and sub-projects and moving them out of cardboard boxes in the cellar and into plastic boxes in my hobby room. Also sold of several armies and reduced various others and of course painted a lot of minis.

This year, I am looking at wrapping up several sub-projects:
- Build and paint part of Tilean Dogs of War army (approx 60 minis)
- Build and paint Empire Engineers Guild army (approx 40 minis, including 4 war wagons)
- Some random units for Empire (knights panther, grudgebringer infantry, ostermark halberds)
- Touch-up Kislev army (20-ish minis)
- Finish Norscan Chaos army except trolls (10-ish large minis, including war mammoth)
- Finish up Post-Apoc and Zombie collection (approx 100 minis, half only missing basing)
- Build and paint 4 tanks and a super heavy for my death corps

So 250-ish minis to paint this year. As I managed to blunder into NMM for the Dogs of War project, it might be too optimistic, but good to have an ambitious goal

And also planning to sell a bunch of stuff off to further reduce the pile.

I've hit the 200-300 minis mark per year

The most important thing is not going back and redoing minis. Thats my current issue. I want to redo nearly 50 or so minis I have no time to redo

 Stevefamine wrote:

 Illumini wrote:
Done a ton of work on the pile last year, getting the pile organized by army project and sub-projects and moving them out of cardboard boxes in the cellar and into plastic boxes in my hobby room. Also sold of several armies and reduced various others and of course painted a lot of minis.

This year, I am looking at wrapping up several sub-projects:
- Build and paint part of Tilean Dogs of War army (approx 60 minis)
- Build and paint Empire Engineers Guild army (approx 40 minis, including 4 war wagons)
- Some random units for Empire (knights panther, grudgebringer infantry, ostermark halberds)
- Touch-up Kislev army (20-ish minis)
- Finish Norscan Chaos army except trolls (10-ish large minis, including war mammoth)
- Finish up Post-Apoc and Zombie collection (approx 100 minis, half only missing basing)
- Build and paint 4 tanks and a super heavy for my death corps

So 250-ish minis to paint this year. As I managed to blunder into NMM for the Dogs of War project, it might be too optimistic, but good to have an ambitious goal

And also planning to sell a bunch of stuff off to further reduce the pile.

I've hit the 200-300 minis mark per year

The most important thing is not going back and redoing minis. Thats my current issue. I want to redo nearly 50 or so minis I have no time to redo

For sure if you are just in it to burn down the pile, redo´s are bad for you. However, I get inspired by seeing the display of my well-finished armies, so in my mind the minis that no longer meet the bar are mentally added back to the pile of shame anyways, so I need to fix them. Touch-up can give great results with little work as well (not talking total redo).

Here is my list. Feels good to air it all out. And hope it makes some of you feel better. While the total list looks daunting. If am confident I can close at least 90% by end of year as I have been completing 2.5 2k armies every year.

My goal is to A.) Not start any NEW projects/armies. Clearly I have enough variety to avoid fatigue on a certain style
B.) Not buy any new minis for any of the current project armies until what I have for said army is already painted.

My biggest weakness is wanting to get that 1 model just to complete a perfect list I want to try. For example, I really want the bone tithe shrieker OBR endless spell, but would then have a box of 3 decent sized minis to add to my backlog. It is super tempting just to be able to have that 40 point model which is so versatile in list building. So the requirement I will make is, I can buy that mini, only until all other OBR minis are painted, AND once I buy that kit, it takes top priority and gets completed right away so I can have "completed" armies to display instead of random minis in storage.

My priorities are as follows:
- Finish Skaven Army (so close, 80 clan rats, 2 heroes, 6 stormfiends, 3 gnawholes, 2 wlc) done since Nov - 2019.
- OBR (since this is an entire new army, I can paint the following in between units - shadowspear units, blue/brim horrors, silver tower, touch up old units)
- FEC - this one is tough since it is so many models that are exactly the same, it is tough to get motivation. I think I might just have very low paint bar for this army to get tabletop ready. Something where I wouldn't mind selling the whole army later.
Stormcast Eternals - This army I basically use to teach my kid to paint, so this is less of a project and more of a sandbox.


To Build/Paint
OBR
- 40 Mortek Guard
- Bone Tithe Nexus
- Mortek Crawler
- Mortisan Soulreaper

Nighthaunt
- x10 hexwraiths
- Lady Olynder

To Paint:
Skaven
- Thanquol
- Doomwheel
- Wapgridner
- Warlock Bombardier

OBR
- x3 Immortis Guars
- x10 Kavalos Deatheriders
- Leige Kavalos
- Mortisan Boneshaper


FEC
- x30 crypt ghouls
- x9 wings for crypt flayers (magnetized to already painted crypt horrors)\
- x6 crypt horrors/flayers
- Abhorrant Ghoul King on Zombie Dragon
- Abhorrant Archregent


DE
- x2 Raging heroes characters
- x1 Lamean
- x2 Ur-ghul

Chaos
- x40 blue/brimstone horrors
- x18 decimator/contemptor weapon attachments
- Remant Shadowspear minis (x3 oblits, x2 grrater posessed, x5 CC marines)
- Sorcerer
- Gaunt Summoner

Stormcast Eternals
- ~40 minis I don't know the names of. This army I basically use to teach my kid to paint, so this is less of a project and more of a sandbox.

Silver Tower
- Most of the box left to paint

Selling
I am also adding what I should probably sell so as to not feel overwhelmed and give de-prioritized minis a good home.
- Yncarne
- Yvraine
- DE Raider
- Death Jester
- x5 Scourges
- x2 Deathguard Dark Imperium Box Sets

I might have gone backwards...

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
I might have gone backwards...

Yikes!
You are in Australia!
That would have been the cost of a small house over here!
I am itching to get my hands on that giant drill...
This is to HELP with mitigating our shame not make it worse!

I know, I know.

But my group has decided to try and get back into 40K, and I've been having so much fun rediscovering 'Nids and Chaos that I just couldn't help myself.

I think it is correct to post any failures to the thread! I definitely will if my resolve cracks.
I already got a flyrant last year, that is part of the 40K pile...I guess it is time to list that...

Decided to go with standard Martyred Lady on the sisters. Got the robes painted for my first Battalion's worth, hoping to get some faces and metals done tonight. Long way to go but excited to get this Sister/DW/GK list done.

I still have to paint....

1. 1 unit of 10 Spartans- Assembled
2. 1 Unit of 10 Corinthian Hoplites- Assembled
3. A Lizard Man Blood Bowl Team- Undercoated
4. About 10 D&D Minis- Undercoated
5. 6mm Successor Army #1- Boxed
6. 6mm Successor Army #2- Boxed
7. About 12 Gangsters- Undercoated
8. 3 Scorpion Drones for AQMF- Boxed
9. 10 Greek Peltasts- Painted, need Basing

Well I've managed to paint 5 models so far this month.

Mind you I bought 18 more...so this whole thing might be a losing endeavor.

I’ve been on a 2+ year quest to tackle my Pile. I’ve made great progress, but much more needs to be done.

Already this year I have finished my new Impulsor, a Tau drone marksman and a Dreamforce counts-as Dreadknight. Along with a half-dozen RPG miniatures for D&D (including a Kraken!).

Currently, I am working on some Tau bikes, about 50% done.

This is the remainder of what I hope to tackle this year (unfortunately, it’s only part of an even larger Pile, but got to keep it reasonable)

NECRONS
Immortals (5), Wraiths (3), Cryptech, Triarch Stalker, Tomb Blades (3)

ADMECH
Onager, Rust Stalkers (5), Hovercraft (2)

GENESTEALER CULTS
Goliath (2), Familiars (2)

IMPERIAL GUARD
Heavy Weapons Team (12?)

TYRANID
Malceptor/Toxicrene, Haruspex/Exocrine, Tyrannocyte, Tervigon/Tyrannofex, Brood Guard(3), numerous weapon options (magnetize)

ELDAR CRAFTWORLD
Banshees(10), Scorpions(10),Reapers(6), Swooping Hawk(8), Fire Dragons(6), Dire Avengers(20), Jetbikes(6),Wraithguard(10),Wraithlord(3)

DARK ELDAR
Troops(20), Jetbikes(5?), Hellions(?)

——The rest is “As I can get to it”

SLANN/SERAPHIM
Saurus Knights(8), Saurus Warriors(20), Skinks(20?), Stegadon, Bastiladon

HIGH ELVES
Spearmen(16), Silver Helms(5), Dragon Knights(5), Outriders(10)

RUNEWARS ELVES/HUMANS/UNDEAD
All of ‘em

PIRATES
English Crew(20), Sloop (guns & rigging), Brigatine (guns & rigging), Frigate (guns & rigging)

TEAM YANKEE/Modern TANKS
Leopard(3), Bradley(3),M109(3), M60(5), HUMVEE(6)

FLAMES OF WAR/TANKS
The whole lot

ROBOTECH
Zent pods(40), RDF Mecha(lots)

TERMINATOR
All of it

AVP
Aliens, Marines

ZOMBICIDE
Season 1,2,3 - some day

Was doing so well , painted around 40 models this year ...... sadly I bought blackstone fortress this morning, so net gain is -10 or something :(

Good on you for posting here! I am hoping to get some painting time this weekend. My imagination is fired like crazy for these Beastmen, but I am so short on time to do anything about it. Buying stuff takes way less time, so it feels like doing something, I think is my problem.
Still holding out though!

Those LVO reveals are going to seriously test my resolve. Damn it.

Just exchanged my Death Guard army in exchange for (painted!) Lord of the Rings miniatures, now I need to focus on selling off over a decade's worth of random Space Marines while I focus on my main goal:

Building/converting/painting approx. 150 miniatures for the Very British Civil War, everything from Militiamen and Army Regulars, to Fascist Legionaries and Liberal Paramilitaries. During that time I will no doubt buy odd miniatures as I fill out different armies with leaders and vehicles, but the infantry base of several small forces has been covered and I don't need to buy any more of those!

I have decided that at some point, once I judge that progress enough has been made, that I will relent and go back to 40k with a new army, and start collecting Alpha Legion, but I only want that to happen as fast as I can paint them.

I have a "guaranteed" time I paint every Friday night for some 4hrs but I am not liking the math.
Working on 3 Eliminators and got them ~80% done in one session probably another couple hours for clearcoat/shade/decals/matt-coat.
I have some 54 models for the Ultramarines to go including many character models.
I am looking at a rate of about 2hrs per model (Some YouTube guy I was watching was quoting the goal of 1 hour per marine).
So some 108 hrs to go at least, so about 27 Fridays if I do not paint more during the week, so I will be done in around 7 months... see you all in August!

Building my last AdMech models now:
3 Onagers remain!

As of this moment:
4 of 7 Onagers built
150 Skitarii(split between Vanguard, Rangers, Secutarii Peltasts, and Secutarii Hoplites)
30 Sicarian(10 Infiltrators, 10 Ruststalkers with twin blades, 10 with claw+shank)
2 Ballistarii
2 Dragoons
1 Manipulus
3 Techpriest Enginseers
3 Dominus(including one converted out of Cawl!)
Cawl
6 Kataphron Destroyers
9 Kastellan Robots
2 Duneriders
1 Disintegrator
Blackstone Fortress Explorator+Botbuddy

The above list is what needs painting, along with roughly 50 Skitarii needing seams fixed on their robes with green stuff.

I thought I was feeling ok about my unpainted minis, but through this thread I see that my pile is out of proportion to many others.

Assembled and unpainted I'm probably in the range of 2000 miniatures...

If it makes you feel any better, I am only halfway through posting my pile. I have non-Warhammer fantasy minis and historicals still to go...

I really want to buy a box of Sisters, 'cause I really want to support the release of new female sculpts, but I don't want to add to my pile of shame until I've brought it down by about 50%.

Do you think it matters to GW sales-peeps if I buy them now, or in two months? Am I just trying to rationalize adding to Plastic Mountain?

I'm the wrong person to ask since I bought them myself.

My current rule though is anything I buy needs to go to the top of the painting list. Hoping to finish a good chunk of my Battalion over the weekend. Last night I got most of the base colors down and they're at that point where I can see the scheme coming together. Really excited to finish it off.

I’m still -11 net for the year, but closing in on finishing 33 minis in my current batch. Hoping to finish them next weekend to have my average above 1 per day... not that I’ll get anywhere close to maintaining it beyond the current blob of Grots!

Is it just me or is there a certain amount of irony in everyone being tempted by the paragons of virtue that is the sister!?!

Keep up the good fight!

Started painting my Cygor today, just base colours. First bit of painting I have been able to manage in weeks. Hoping to get him done before the 31st.

Still moving wrong way.... but just because the last box of grots came in. Sisters done soon; then we'll start clearing out the goblins.

Updates from the weekend!

1. 1 unit of 10 Spartans- Assembled ------ Now: Primed
2. 1 Unit of 10 Corinthian Hoplites- Assembled ------ Now: Primed
3. A Lizard Man Blood Bowl Team- Undercoated ------ Painted the Skinks, half done.
4. About 10 D&D Minis- Undercoated ------- Painted 4
5. 6mm Successor Army #1- Boxed
6. 6mm Successor Army #2- Boxed
7. About 12 Gangsters- Undercoated ------- Painted 1
8. 3 Scorpion Drones for AQMF- Boxed
9. 10 Greek Peltasts- Painted, need Basing

Not bad, 11 models painted this week, 20 primed. No new purchases.

This is all that is left of my pile of shame! I finished up another model tonight, so only 4 things left!



I've decided to lump the scenery in with my models as I'll never paint them if I have dudes waiting to be worked on.

 Nevelon wrote:
That was a brush with death.

Remember, you can’t die when you have models left to paint. Some say you die when you finish the last one. Best not to take the chance.

You want to have some workflow, but not a massive pile of shame. You can't let it run out though.

Despite Nevelon's warning, I'm going to finish everything and risk actually not having anything to work on. Hopefully I can refrain from any new purchases... wish me luck!

Be careful! I tempted fate myself, but luckily, i had a tank that was only undercoated. That undercoated tank saved my life!

I painted 1 more D&D mini last night. Half done with those now!

Ok...I'm officially on hiatus when it comes to buying Minis. I gotta start making progress on what I do have. So for this month I will just avoid all my hobby shops and Ebay (as much as possible)

I still need to pick up a Steam Tank and some Outriders to finish my 1000pts of Cities of Sigmar. But I will hol doff the last buying until after I finish the 20 odd handgunners I have to paint.

 privateer4hire wrote:
My pile o' is:

To build:
5 necron immortals
necron floaty weapon platform
5 GSC bikers

To paint:
The items above
15 OOP necron warriors
5 primaris tactical type guys
5 primaris jump pack guys
12 necron warriors

3 little frog guys from deep undercuts are now completed.

I finished 3 beastmen from BSF yesterday. That takes my total to 24 models complete in 2020 and 0 bought despite being paid last week

 Excommunicatus wrote:
I really want to buy a box of Sisters, 'cause I really want to support the release of new female sculpts, but I don't want to add to my pile of shame until I've brought it down by about 50%.

Do you think it matters to GW sales-peeps if I buy them now, or in two months? Am I just trying to rationalize adding to Plastic Mountain?

yes, initial sales figures matter preety much for the fast amortisation of a product line.

(also, if they wouldn't make some prime real estate for conversion and adaption for your slaaneshy warband i eat my trenchline)

I'm steadily chipping away at my enormous unbuilt Pile of Shame and I can feel it slowly shrinking.
My purchases in the last two months was just a few ogres (Beastclaw SC! and Battlebox half), so I keep adding to it. But still, when I'm looking at the stuff I built, I feel pretty good.
I keep switching between projects and systems to keep my spirits high. This slows down individual armies, but overall, I'm getting done more.

Painting is taking a backseat, but I have started it up again, too. My BFG Navy fleet has a first basecoat and needs to be finished mid-March for a small tourney. So I have a deadline here, which is nice for a change.

After my session today I've hit a nice round 30 models painted so far in 2020. I finished 3 traitor guardsmen and 3 spindle drones today.

Still plugging away. 2 more Fantasy models and 1 Gangster.

Taking 1 off models has been a refreshing pace since I had been doing bulk painting of 10-30 models most of last year. However, I think this weekend it will be back to unit painting as I have 20 Greek Hoplites to tackle.

So far, 14 minis painted and none purchased this year......

Three down, 31 minis to go.
url=https://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/1043612-Drukhari%2C%20Kabalite%2C%20Kill%20Team%2C%20Slaanesh.html][/url]

More backsliding... silly Legion. In good news, I'm helping a friend get into 40k with a pile of marines I'd been sitting on and my sisters are very nearly ready. The new legion stuff can be done in a day, so I'm hoping I'm hoping to be well into the black again in February.

Workload is still crazy so I have not made much progress, but still keeping to my no purchase pledge as well.

Pretty much exactly the same for me. Only three models in a month, but no new purchases means a net loss for Grey Mountain.

I may have gone to the grand opening of the first GW store in the region and walked away with a box of aggressors and a terminator captain, and ordered some infiltrators, eliminators, and put my name on the list for the fist/plasma captain when they come in.

I’ll try to paint faster.

So far, I’ve been catching up with the models from Warhammer 40,000 Conquest. I’m up to issue 46 now.

My first model of the year is nearly done. January was a pisstake, was working around 70 hours a week because my managers are incompetent. Most of the work on this guy happened over the last three days. Still need to finish his necklace, glue it on, and do leaf litter and static grass.
Overall, not super happy with how the muscle areas came out, but the model will look suitably imposing from tabletop distance.


Next up are all his little Ungor and Bestigor buddies, and then I will be doing some Frostgrave Gnolls to add to the force.

So, 1 down, uncounted hundreds to go...

Bought a Wych and two Kabalites to finish my Kill Team(s).

Painted three, bought three . No overall progress.

I was nearly -11 for January but pulled a late one to finish some 2nd Edition gold, most of which had laid primed for 20 years! Finished 30 Grots, a base of Snotlings, plus a rebased (that counts in the fight against the shame right?) Big Mek with Shokk Attack Gun and Nob in Mega Armour. Pics or it didn’t happen;



February will no doubt be slower as I’ll tackle the Dreaded Ambull and the Blackstone Fortress “good” guys. That might take me to March at my usual pace!
Keep fighting the good fight!

I don't know if my pile-of-shame really counts as such, nothing in it is more than a couple of years old. As of right now I have:

15 Intercessors
15 Hellblasters
10 Incursors
5 Infiltrators
5 Reivers
5 Assault Marines *
5 Cataphracii Terminators **
Shike
The Iron Father
1 Chaplain
2 Repulsor Executioners
1 Hunter
1 Stalker *
1 Impulsor
1 Predator
1 Razorback
70 Daemonettes *
10 Seekers
3 Fiends
Sysk'Elle
1 Keeper of Secrets
1 Herald of Slannesh
1 Herald on a Chariot **
5 Sagitarum Custodes
1 Gladius Contemptor **

* - 5 Assault Marines, 1 Stalker, and 10 Daemonettes are on my painting table as we speak
** - On order.

That's really not that big a pile, and when I took stock of what I've actually done this year I realized I'd painted 50 models in January. If I keep that pace I'll run out of models in May.

My real pile of shame is my half painted minis I haven't touched in months.

This week I started in on some 30 half painted Blue Horrors (10 down!), I have a half painted Mutalith Vortex Beast, 11 Primaris Marines, 10 Vanguard Hunters, 3 Vanguard Pallidors, Lord Arcanum, Knight Heraldor and Knight Evocator that need finishing as well.

I did not buy anything this week so I'm currently sticking to my pledge! I WILL finish a project. They are all sitting there waiting to be painted. Must focus...MUST PAINT!

I finished the Lizardman Blood Bowl team I had....



That is about 30 models down for the year.... and none purchased!

4 more models completed bringing my tally to 34/0 for 2020. It’s shaping up well, especially as I won’t have money for any models in my February pay either (not that i’m worried or stressed by that, my backlog is well into the hundreds if not more)

Forgive me father, for I have sinned. I purchased calas typhon, aswell as 2 more resin 54mm inquisitor models, and a dust tactics resin winter child model this month. aswell as an issue of conquest, although that is terrain for basing purposes.

on the plus side, I finished painting my eisenhorn conversion, and am halfway through kharn the betrayer.

Yeah I won a bid on Sisters of twilight on forest dragon... I genuinely thought someone would outbid me and didn't really want it right now. Oops..

I have a personal tracker for getting stuff done. I am wise enough to not put a "bought" category on it.

My personal goal is 1 miniature per day for the year, either assembled or painted. Yes, that means I can double dip by building something and painting. But the way I see it is that it still counts as hobby work completion.

Larger models count more for both assembly and painting. I'd go insane if I thought assembling a 5 piece Mortek Guard and a 283 piece Leviathan Crusader counted the same.

It helps. Also lets me keep track of what I've worked on in a year. I should get all my Ironjawz and AoS Death painted this year. Unless I buy more, which is likely (because Bonereapers just look cool).

Do you really think that makes a big difference, though?

Mine does, but it also has 'built' and 'painted' so adding one x to a column doesn't feel like much of an achievement to me, whereas knocking three off does.

I have tried many times to do the mini a day thing, and I think I am done with it for now. I always get swamped and lose motivation.

This year has been a pisstake so far though. Normally January and February would be two of my most productive months outside of August, and I have done very little.

Have had some free time this week but stress and depression left me flat out. I reckon it is a bad sign when you wake up and go to bed with the same headache four days in a row.

Not to turn this into a personal blog, sorry. Just frustrated at how little progress I am making.
Sticking to my guns so far on no purchases. Seems I have to just ride out the initial "oooh, that would be GREAT" phase and not listen to the inner voice that worries things will become unavailable.

I used to have a 4 minis a week goal. I found it unsustainable. Once I knew the odds of me making it were low, I gave up trying. It was so far outside my normal, that it was no longer motivating. Why try if you know you are going to fail?

I have a 1-a-week goal now. Still don’t always make it on a per-week basis, but I take the long view. I don’t grade my self weekly, but do quarterly updates, and work to make sure I have 52 done by the end of the year.

One key (and something I’ve been slacking on due to broader motivation issues) is to just sit down and put one layer down every day. 7 layers in a week is basically a finished mini. And for some detail passes, you can do a couple in one sitting. And you can work on two minis at once from the same squad and double your productivity. Once you sit down and get the brush and paint out, the second model is a tiny bit more time compared to the overhead of getting started.

52 models is a decent size (non horde) army. Doable by anyone at this pace.

damn, I usually spend between 2 weeks to a month on single models...

 queen_annes_revenge wrote:
damn, I usually spend between 2 weeks to a month on single models...

Yah, but you are abnormal. The vast bulk of the hobby population paint to a much lower standard than you do.

My standard used to be "put at least one color on at least one model every day", but I found that just getting to the painting table seems to be my sticking point.

Once I got past that hurdle I found that I'd consistently put down a color or two on a five-man block or a tank and then not be able to continue due to needing things to dry. I started keeping a second project on the table so I could work on that once I hit a stop point, but I'd run into the same problem on the second squad. The third squad seems to be the point where if I've hit "well that needs to dry" then it's probably time to take a break.

Conquest mag still coming, and I picked up the first 4 issues of Mortal Realms (and have converted 5 of the Stormcast to Fallen/Slaanesh dudes) but other than that, haven't bought any new models. Have painted about 58 Gotham City Chronicles models, and got some more primed yesterday. My Dungeons and Lasers animal companion and Bulbo The Eyeball minis arrived this week though, so those with the Rampart terrain have upped the pile of shame a fair bit.

I have drawn the battle lines. It is time to fight off Hivefleet Greysprue, and get them built!

They were ordered a while ago, but I added a Gladius Dread, a Seeker Chariot, and a squad of Cataphracii Terminators to my pile of shame. I've painted more than twice that already though.

Hivelfeet Greysprue looks fearsome! Looking forward to seeing a shot of them all assembled.

Got some time to work today, so I have put base colours on 10 Ungor Raiders. That is the longest part of painting them, so it is just some quick highlighting and tidying up til I have a finished group. Also slapped some paint on two Dungeons and Dragons cows that I bought ages ago.

Good to get the numbers up. I love Beastmen, always regretted selling off my army back in 2010. Bestigor and the Shaman next, then time to add the Frostgrave Gnolls to the mix.

 Da Boss wrote:
Hivelfeet Greysprue looks fearsome! Looking forward to seeing a shot of them all assembled.

...wait, are we suppose to be providing proof of our progress?

Only if you want to or have time! It just looked like H.B.M.C.s horde would look pretty cool when assembled.

The Newman wrote:

 Da Boss wrote:
Hivelfeet Greysprue looks fearsome! Looking forward to seeing a shot of them all assembled.

...wait, are we suppose to be providing proof of our progress?

It's not a formal requirement.

Personally I find that posting pics of a mini puts the stamp on it being 'finished'. If I don't post a pic, I have a horrible habit of returning to it over and over and over and eventually I make it far worse than it originally was.

Rather than clutter the whole thread with pictures, I'll just link to the gallery:

https://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/images-120625-62502_Pile%20Of%20Shame%202020.html

The Newman wrote:
I found that just getting to the painting table seems to be my sticking point.

I've got a little Ikea table that fits in a closet with my paints/lamp/current project on it. Being able to turn on the TV, pull that out and just get to work is a huge help.

In terms of fighting the pile, I'm finishing the highlights on my sisters right now. In addition, I sent a chunk of it to a friend just getting into the game. Those two combined put me JUST in the black for the year, so I'm hoping I can start really cutting into the backlog in the next couple weeks.

I finally got my home office set up, and my painting station is permanently set up there. Just sitting down to paint without having to do any set-up work at all makes a big difference.

Home in Ireland, everything closed down with the least bit of snow. Here in Bavaria they keep going. But they closed my school today because of wind! And we are not talking hurricane strength or something here, just what would be an average windy day where I come from.

So I made good use of it powering ahead with my Ungor Raiders. Nearly finished now, should even be able to get some basecoats on my Bestigors.

Re: Desk, absolutely. I have a dedicated painting desk these days, and it makes a huge difference. Unfortunately, it gets cluttered really quickly because I am a damn slob.

Go through 6 Tyranid Warriors, a Tyranid Prime, 2 Venomthropes, a Neurothrope and a Toxicrene yesterday.

I've had a great start to the year. In January, I painted three warbands for Underworlds (Spiteclaw's Swarm, Steelheart's Champions, Ironsoul's Condemnors) and in February so far I've painted up the Farstriders, and I've cleaned up and assembled the Wurmspat. I'm on track to finish the final Stormcast warband (Cursebreakers) this month, and I'm hoping to knock out another small warband - either Magore's Fiends (which will finish my Season 1 stuff) or the Wurmspat.

Like several others here, I'm using a spreadsheet to track my progress and I'm finding it very motivating to check things off and color things in. Unlike many others here, I'm not restricting myself from buying things - although my main focus now is all Underworlds so it's not like I'm getting a lot of stuff - at least that's what I'm telling myself.

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
Go through 6 Tyranid Warriors, a Tyranid Prime, 2 Venomthropes, a Neurothrope and a Toxicrene yesterday.

That's a pretty good load for one day's painting.

 Nevelon wrote:

 queen_annes_revenge wrote:
damn, I usually spend between 2 weeks to a month on single models...

Yah, but you are abnormal.

Does not compute. Does not compute. Does not compute.

Error. Error. Error. Initiating self destruct.

[EDIT]: Two more Tyranid Primes and a Maleceptor.

The Newman wrote:
That's a pretty good load for one day's painting.

Building.

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
[EDIT]: Two more Tyranid Primes and a Maleceptor.

The Newman wrote:
That's a pretty good load for one day's painting.

Building.

Oh. Well that's a tad less impressive.

I suppose that means I should add building my Seeker Chariot and kit-bashing that Contemptor Achilles and the Sagittarius Custodes to this month's accomplishments. The Pile of Shame does include the unassembled boxes.

I started batch painting the 20 Hoplites, and finished all their skin and foot wear. About half have their tunics done. Nothing finished though.

I also have a fantasy model and a Gangster going on the side. Also not finished.

I had a massive pile of shame (mostly Khorne Berserkers that I seem to have converted up in an obsessive compulsive splurge before getting distracted with something else).

I thought I should tackle this so...I ignored it all, bought a Bloodthirster and have been working on that.

It is probably the best and most impressive 'mini' I've ever owned, so everything else can wait. They will understand.

Cleared another batch of stuff I'm just not going to ever get around to painting and got a lot of the sisters highlights done. Looking forward to starting a new project soon.

I finished a Primaris Reiver today, and an Obliterator last week. That takes my painted/bought total for the year to 35/0. I think I'll still be good with no purchases until at least March payday.

I wrote a post on my blog a few year ago now about painting tips, and most of it was about keeping motivation and making progress. Might have some useful tips if anyone is interested: http://adventuresinminiaturegaming.blogspot.com/2016/06/painting-tips-for-rest-of-us.html

Great post. I just conducted a brush purge, I have a bad habit of hanging on to brushes well past their usefulness.

I think display cases are a good idea too.

I’ve hand primer three flamers and Epidemius today! And started painting Epidemius. Contrast ftw, baby!!

I have so much stuff it’s gross. But I’m running a event at Adepticon and have to spend all my time build terrain for that. Sigh.

Iv'e painted a couple of dozen marines so far this year, but my 90 sales total on eBay has hit $2900, all miniatures. so that pile of shame is getting a lot smaller!

 Freeflow44 wrote:
I'm going to be particularly brave and tell you guys what I have to build and paint before I can buy another kit:
1. Fyreslayers - Start Collecting Box
2. Fyreslyers - Hearthguard Beserkers
3. Gotrek
4. Death Guard Foul Blightspawn - Finished
5. 2 Death Guard Easy Build kits of Plague Marines (6 Plague
Marines) - Finished
6. Death Guard Myphitic Blight Hauler - Finished

Finished five Incursors today.

I have terrible news. I found all my unbuilt Gaunts.

16 Hormagaunts.

64 Termagants...

I finished 4 more BSF models yesterday to take my total to 39/0

+80 to the pile of shame then HBMC?

YTD I’ve finished 2 terminators, and have 2 marines and a zoat as WIP. I am so far behind.

Did just hit level 10 in Witcher 3 last night, so at least I know what the problem is.

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
I have terrible news. I found all my unbuilt Gaunts.

16 Hormagaunts.

64 Termagants...

Rip

Oh the rippers are there. And many more that are somewhere in a bitz box.

I did get to do a count of all my existing Gaunts.

24 Devilgaunts
24 Spinegaunts
68 regular Termagants (+28 2nd Ed plastic Termagants)
66 Hormagaunts
30 Hormagaunts w/Rending Claws (that was a thing once)

And then the unbuilt ones on top of that. It's actually enough to ensure that I have 3x30 regular Termagants and I can increase the Devil and Spine units to 30 each.

Sisters... Grey Knights.... Inquisitors all highlighted. Need to flock the bases but I've got my Ordos all ready to go soon.

After moving some stuff on eBay, I think it's time to really start an inventory for my Pile of Shame. January was bad time for this, as I was sifting through stuff to keep vs. sell, and the thought of listing everything I had was exhausting. Still, I find the need to track our work compelling, so below is an inventory of things I have at least some chance of getting to in the next few years. I'm also using the simple brightline rule that a model isn't done until it's done, which means decals, dullcote, and flock. So, let's get on with it:

Space Marines:
Repulsor (basic)
Guleman
UM LE Lieutenant
Primaris Libby
Primaris Apothecary
9 Inceptors (full kit)
5 DI Intercessors

15 Metal terminators
15 Metal Scouts
~20 Devestators
~20 metal Veterans and Captains
15 bolter marines
15 bikers
3 Scout Bikes
3x Attack bikes
5x Razorback

Grey Knights (all metal unless specified)
43 Terminators
82 Power Armor
3x Ven Dred (plastic)
Dreadknight (plastic)
Voldus (plastic)
Chaplain Terminator
Librarian

Eldar
~20 metal Harlequins
20 Rangers
15 Dark Reapers
20 Howling Banshees
15 Scorpions
20 Fire Dragons
25 Wraithguard
5 War Walkers
30 Guardians
10 Jetbikes
5 Phoenix Lords
5 psykers

Completed so far 2020 (not included above):
Primaris Half of Shadowspear
10x Reivers
6x Aggressors
24 Scouts

bought so far in 2020 (included above):
Ven Dread x2
Bikes x11
Scout bikes x2
Rngers x7
Fire Dragon x13
Scorpions x16
Terminator x9
Chaplain terminator

I have a plie of Guard models, mostly old metal ones from the 80's that I have been meaning to get to. This is the year!!!
And thank you for an inspiring post. It's lovely to know I'm not the only one.

My progress has been setting it up. I had some warm days and primed something like 70 models and then made some foam trays and boxes to store them. That alone feels nice and for those of you that have had set backs or a lack of time?

Just know I, and very likely others, understand that some days or goals you set, don't work out. ANY progress is good progress. Whether you're organizing the pile, sorting the bits or clipping sprues, to priming or getting a lick of paint on is ALL progress.

Maybe not as much as you may feel you could do, but if it sits there and you feel you'll fail so why bother trying? 100% if you don't try. You may surprise yourself or find you can get the smallest bit done. And if it helps, if you do fail at toy soldiers, at least it wasn't a drastic life changing event right?

Man I've been making progress this week but its been sloooow. So SLOOOOOOW.

Painting 3 Orc Arrer Boyz for a little Warhammer 6th Edition Skirmish. I'm a bit annoyed as I bought them used/pre-primed and I should of stripped them and filed off the mold lines
but noooooo I tried to save time by just working with them as is. Now that I started painting them the mold line are SUPER noticeable.

Guess they will be back rank dudes and I'll properly file off the other 9 I have to paint.

Got my sisters done and found better homes for some stuff that was sitting in a box. Almost back to the levels I was at before GW threw both sisters and gitz at me. I've got some side games to work on right now, but getting to those should get me to a new low on the pile.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
On that note, finishing up the Sisters means I can finally play the list I've been wanting to build since the dawn of 8th:

 LunarSol wrote:
Got my sisters done and found better homes for some stuff that was sitting in a box. Almost back to the levels I was at before GW threw both sisters and gitz at me. I've got some side games to work on right now, but getting to those should get me to a new low on the pile.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
On that note, finishing up the Sisters means I can finally play the list I've been wanting to build since the dawn of 8th:

Spoiler:

So much anti-heresy, I love it!

I managed to put the finishing touches to 6 more Reivers today taking me to 45/0 for the year.

I've been surprised by how much stopping streaming has removed motivation to hobby since July - and work changing where I work three days a week has also robbed me of energy this year.

Still, I've been building terrain bits from my Conquest subscription this week - many barrels and crates from Armoured Container sprues (mean to build the containers themselves today and tomorrow), a pair of Blood Reactors, an Alchomite Stack, 1.5 Galvanic Servohaulers (though I'll finish the second one this morning), and a pair of Plasma Regulators.

Intend to pick up some Leadbelcher spray today so I can start thinking about painting something from that lot...

Man. Red spray paint does not taste good. Oh boy...

Well, it's all in service to the Omnissiah I 'spose.

Did also test out Contrast paints for the first time on some Spinegaunts. I think my colour scehem will work, it just needs some refinement. And a smaller brush.

Nids are the army best suited for contrast IMO.

I am wondering whether Iyanden Yellow over Wraithbone might not be the best way to get the yellow. Instead I might try Cassandora over straight white.

My way to fight the pile is simple: I’m making a “goal”/competitive list for my DoT, HoS, BoK and fun S2D armies. I’m trying to get each of those finished, then either clean stuff out or work on it in smaller, less important chunks after.

-Archaon, Gaunt Summoner, 9 Varanguard, Bloodstoker

-3 Keepers, 15 Hellstriders

-Kairos, LoC, 2 Exalted Flamers, 3 units flamers, 3 units screamers, Gaunt Summoner, 50 mixed horrors

-Skarbrand, 2 Bloodthirsters, 3 Skullcannons, 1 Skullthrone, 30 Bloodreavers.

I’m actually in good shape.

Picked up the Leadbelcher spray (and Nuln Oil Gloss) from GW today.

Have "fully" (by which I mean, apart from the storm bolters) built four of the Armoured Containers, while the other three are currently drying from having the walls & doors assembled - control panels and eagle-head-hooks to be added in the morning.

Finished a Hellblaster squad this morning.

That puts me at 27 models down for the month so far, but I added 10 Daemonnetes, 5 Cataphracii Terminators, and Seeker Chariot, and I have another 10 Daemonettes and 3 Eliminators on order. I have to paint another two models to break even.

I have no plans to buy anything else this year, but GW does have this habit of releasing new models...

Finished building the other three Containers earlier - now to build 14 Storm Bolters to optionally go on top of them...

Man, I can tell it has been a long time sine I played a GW game from this thread. I read the names and have no idea what the stuff is anymore! I am totally out of touch.

On Topic, I finished the painting on 10 more hoplites for Men of Bronze. This is the last unit I needed in my Corinthian army list. These guys still need basing, but I will batch base about 30 guys all at once when those pesky last Spartans get done.



No new purchases, and abut 40 models completed so far in 2019.

I painted nothing this weekend...also didn't buy anything. So I'm holding the line as of right now.

I've finished a box of Sylvaneth Dryads. 16 more tree-types with grass and everything
Also, 7 Necromunda enforcer's for a friend. We've got a game on Saturday, so that got that going.
I've assembled 2 squads of floaty Kharadron troops with magnetised arms. And 1.5 ships for them.

But, I brought a box of Kharadron marines. The pile is slowly going down.

Had a productive weekend. Finished up a couple packs of the new Stormtroopers for Legion, then got Thor and Vision to complete my Avengers for MCP. Of course... I just bought the latter 2 plus a few more characters for that game, but... progress.

Got 10 Ungors done, and based my 10 Gors and my Cygor. Threw in two D&D cows since they had the same palette. Got metal and skin basecoats down on my Bestigors!



Pretty happy with how the forest bases came out, though the lighting in my spare room is not doing them much justice...

Onward! Once the beastmen are finished, Wood Elves are on the plate.

All of February I have devoted, mostly, to working on my Genestealer Cult army.

I still have a Goliath Truck/Rockgrinder and a Tectonic Drill (which I bought more as just a terrain piece) to build. What I have built in that last couple weeks are: The Broodcoven, Jackal Adpetus, 15 Jackals, 2 Ridgerunners, 1 Goliath Truck/Rockgrinder, 16 Acolytes,12 Neophytes and 8 Pure Strain Genestealers.



The spoiler has my current progress. The primer stuff is from this weekend. I won't finish painting this by the end of the month, but I do hope to have at least have them to my minimum tabletop standard before them. I figure a month is a enough time to some good progress but not so long I get too burned out or bored painting the same color scheme.

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
I have terrible news. I found all my unbuilt Gaunts.

16 Hormagaunts.

64 Termagants...

Ive been thinking about starting a nid army as a side project.. I can help you and remove this serious problem... by the means of a one off "donation scheme" if you are interested

I did buy a mistweaver saih and triumvirate of Ynnead… But only because Im going to kit bash & convert my own Yvraine and selling the other two characters...

I don't have much in it but I am going to commit as well.

10 Havocs
5 Warp Talons
1 Hellbrute
1 Foetid bloatdrone

I hope I can get these done and will not be buying more till they are

Finished my 2nd crucible tonight! I only have a WIP sorcerer, a noctilith crown and a fortification left!

Still haven't bought much new stuff, but the latest Conquest delivery came with the Silver Templars paint guide, Lt and 5 Intercessors. Lots of new paint for me, but a few more models to add to the pile of shame. Did get my 2 Ambots converted up to Orks in Mega Armour and started painting them along with a few grots and an Ork from the 2nd Edition starter that have been languishing for some time. Once they're finished it'll even out the numbers vs the new Marines.

Went through three quarters of a bottle of Nuln Oil gloss in a single sitting. It was kinda satisfying.

2 more heroes done for Marvel! 2 more and its time to start some squigs!

Ok, ok. Good thread.

I'm committing to finish my battle company and my RT-era terminators this year. That's two Tactical Squads, four Rhinos, and I think 16 Terminators. Bonus points for 10 additional Sternguard.

Tyranids don't count, as they're pretty easy and I can do those fairly casually. My Space Marines take forever, which is why I avoid them. . . which is why I'm publicly committing to them.

I love your Warrior blog, some seriously inspiring stuff in there. Welcome to the war!

 Da Boss wrote:
I love your Warrior blog, some seriously inspiring stuff in there. Welcome to the war!

Aww, thanks man!

I hope this thread helps me to do the really annoying stuff. Painting white Space Marines just suuuuuuuuucks.

 Insectum7 wrote:
Ok, ok. Good thread.

I'm committing to finish my battle company and my RT-era terminators this year. That's two Tactical Squads, four Rhinos, and I think 16 Terminators. Bonus points for 10 additional Sternguard.

Tyranids don't count, as they're pretty easy and I can do those fairly casually. My Space Marines take forever, which is why I avoid them. . . which is why I'm publicly committing to them.

Hold up a moment there, RT-era Terminators?!? I'm not sure I could put paint on something that old, it's practically an antique.

I have vacation next week...I wonder if I can finish 1000pts of Stormcast in that time. We shall see!

I have holidays from school, though I have to grade a bunch of papers. But I am hoping to get some productive hobbying done.
My goal is my 10 Bestigor, 5 Chaos Hounds and 24 Frostgrave Gnolls.

The Newman wrote:

 Insectum7 wrote:
Ok, ok. Good thread.

I'm committing to finish my battle company and my RT-era terminators this year. That's two Tactical Squads, four Rhinos, and I think 16 Terminators. Bonus points for 10 additional Sternguard.

Tyranids don't count, as they're pretty easy and I can do those fairly casually. My Space Marines take forever, which is why I avoid them. . . which is why I'm publicly committing to them.

Hold up a moment there, RT-era Terminators?!? I'm not sure I could put paint on something that old, it's practically an antique.

Yeah, I think I have the full set. A few of them were some of my first 40K paint jobs. I just stripped them and I'm going to do them up in my current scheme, but keep them on the old slotta bases so that I can use them in Space Hulk. The 40mm bases don't fit on the squares. I'll try to put up pictures of my progress.

Besides, the paint protects the metal!

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
Went through three quarters of a bottle of Nuln Oil gloss in a single sitting. It was kinda satisfying.

Yeah, as much as it can be a pain to have to buy more hobby supplies, there is something rewarding to knowing you have done so much you run out.

I love buying special supplies like weathering products, or water effect resins. paints, not so much.

Okay, okay, I'm tapping in as I've given myself some goals this year, too. I had some good pace at the end of last month/start of this one, but have fallen of the (paint) wagon a bit, between working extra long hours and traveling when I can. Gonna try and get the first mini in a special secret project done tonight, then begin the final push for a simple inquisition goon that, paint gods willing, will be done sometime next week, if not sooner!

Gonna try and have this post (my precious, precious 500th post!) as a way to remind myself not to just laze around so much after work! If I'm being annoying in other threads gak posting about primaris marines or something, feel free to quote this at me to remind me that I have better things to do!

Unfortunately due to family from out of the country visiting, construction at my residence, and school starting back up my year so far has been unproductive hobby wise. What hobby time I do get goes to playing and my Ogres usually only have about 3 unpainted models... I need to just paint on my lunch breaks.

I painted for 20 minutes last night. Nearly there!!!! Finishing group/league models due before the end of the month.


Can't buy new stuff until this is done

 Stevefamine wrote:
I painted for 20 minutes

Yes! Go you!

 Stevefamine wrote:
last night

What!? How!?! I have 3 Orcs I'm been working on for the last week and all I can say is I'm barely, almost, done!

But like, go you!

Got a few hours in last night, and though I'm not exactly where I want to be in terms of completion, I feel like my plan to get 2 minis in order has spilled over into 5, which are all coming along nicely enough that I don't mind. Hopefully get something finished properly tonight or Friday.

I don't much like setting deadlines, quotas or anything that could be construed as work for my hobby. I find that hurries along burn out for me. Even with theme months I am trying to make it more about just thinking about a portion what I am painting so I am not constantly moving/removing miniatures off my painting station to paint something else. I mean I kinda really want to put my Chaos Space Marines back on the table as someone in my group is working on a Night Lords army. However, I also really want to keep forward progress on my Genestealer Cult stuff.

I figure if I can get my Goliath Truck/Rockgrinder and Tectonic Drill built by Friday evening I will have everything built for GSC. Hopefully, I can get myself to focus on completing a unit of something. Probably not, as I like to work on least finish model first. Still, I would have enough paint that I feel I can put them on the table to play with.



Updated Progress in Spoiler.

I built another Tyrannofex, this time with the acid thingy.

That is... not a fun kit to put together. Whoever designed that things middle limbs needs a good stern talking to.

Fighting to fix up a batch of Dark vengeance Chosen and HQ turning them into possessed chosen (possessosen?)

I delayed my painting progress a bit by working on a conversion instead of painting last night. I spent several hours turning a LasPlas Razorback (admittedly not even a legal weapon layout anymore) into the core of a Giant Spawn for my slannesh army. I was initially going for a "spawn wears the tank like a shell" thing but ended up with a "crewman was corrupted and is now ripping the tank apart from the inside to get out" sort of vibe instead.

The Razorback was in my to-paint pile so it's not actually adding anything, just a lateral shift that cost me painting progress.

Still slugging away at my Primaris Ultramarine army.

Only have a few HQ still in black primer condition (character models mainly).

All other models have the Zenithal 3 different blues airbrush treatment.

Got ALL troops "block painted" with no edge highlights or shading as of yet.

Got 2 squads of 3 Eliminators block painted, one set with a more natural cloak camouflage and the other group will have a "digital" version (with same camo colours).

Got a squad of shooty Aggressors block painted as well... I really should just push through and get a few of these done-done not "playable" only.

Invictor Warsuit is a pain having to keep the cage and pilot separate to paint, I keep coming back to this one.

At a bit of a stand-still with my two Impulsor tanks for build: got them built up to that add-on special weapon attachment.
I am certain they will have some Razorback add-on later OR remove this option completely later on: I am assuming this is a stop-gap item so I am trying to figure out where to place magnets.
Not sure I will want that cover on there as a permanent thing.
Not sure if I like those fancy swivel angle "flying" bases.

I am re-doing my darn yellow and black hazard stripes: free-hand work on these was poor on my part, will either tape-off or measure and pencil-in lines as guides.


My kid is going to play Magic The Gathering tonight, I usually go to the hobby shop as well to paint so I should get some 4 hours of painting in.


I have been going through my "stock" of stuff lately, oh my goodness it is FAR worse than I thought, the pile of shame.


I REALLY have to show I can complete the Ultramarines.
Because then a full army of Mechanicus / Imperial Knights is waiting patiently to be done (with very little assembled) so a FULL army from scratch... some 5000 points worth?

I am not even looking at the Chapter sized Templar (old marines) army I have in the full spectrum of done-ness (3000 point army "complete" with some 6000 points of not done...).


Last week I "inherited" a display rack used for storing thread with all these removable shelves, that has slots for about 170 unique types that I will use for paint.
I filled it to my surprise.
Organized by colour, which seemed the only way to make sense of GW, Vallejo, Liquitex and Golden brands.
I am "happy" that I did not have too much inventory of any one type of paint that could be considered a waste.
BUT I can honestly say I am a historian of paint through the ages (I actually still have some dreaded screw-on cap GW paint alive).

I have learned the strategy of using the heirloom paints for one-off models and stick to current / replaceable paint for large volume models like troops.
High contrast paints are a godsend for rough surfaces like the Space Marine pouches, I think I would never use the stuff for armour or cloaks, it does not sit right on large smooth surfaces.

Well I finished the Orcs I was working on. Now I have a pile of minis I gotta base so I can work on them next.

Tonight! Prime!

Tomorrow! Paint!....maybe...bah, stupid schedule.

I gave my pile of shame a decent roughing up.

Built all the storm bolters for the Containers over the last week (in my defense, I don't get much time Tues-Thurs due to work commute, and I was out playing Arkham Horror LCG last night).

Going to put the single sprue of Plasma Conduits I have from Conquest together today, and tomorrow I'm probably going to try to get some of it undercoated/Leadbelcher'd, assuming the wind dies down a bit.

I'm also resisting the temptation to go in for any of the Valhallan stuff on M2O - for now...

Painted up a Squig herd over the weekend. Hoping to get my Bounders done this week. If I can get the gitz done by the end of March I'll be back below my lowest point in years again and ready to keep making progress!

I finished 2 of my Scions in my last two painting sessions. That takes me to 47/0 for the year. I was tempted with the Valhallans, but I’d need to buy more models than I’ve painted this year, and I don’t want to do that.

I did Jack and squat, but Jack just left town......

Uggg I bought something guys. Discount Ironblaster to add to my Mawtribe I got from my FLGS

I am weak

I started fighting my pile of shame about half way through January. My goals this year are to finish a 1500 point Imperial Fists army, three 200 point Blood and Plunder French armies, and my Star Wars Legion Droids. My finial goal this year if i get the other three armies done, will be to get some work done on my Warhound that has been sitting around in pieces for three years...

Good news, I only have six more models to paint to finish my Imperial Fists and they all started as unprimed plastic at the start of 2020. Bad news, I've already failed to not buy anything new because I needed some models for my Blood and Plunder armies and I caved with the release of the Valhallans for a week.

Just finished another five Interceasors, putting me up to 33 models for the month. I have five Reivers and Shrike 60% of the way done, finishing them before the 1st looks iffy.

I've reached the conclusion that the 50-model pace I set in January was unsustainable but not really anomalous. I'd started the month with several things nearly complete and wrapped some things up right at the end, February therefore started with fresh units. March is looking like it will also start with a couple of units near to completion. I think it will average out over the year and 35-40 models a month will still run me out of units to paint before September.

Sprayed the craters black, along with two more Sector Mechanicus buildings. Will paint them tomorrow.

I haven been slowly chipping away at the BFG Navy Fleet and after multiple hours of yellow layer after yellow layer to get a good coverage, I needed something different, so I tried my hand at painting the engines.

Not totally satisfied with it yet, but I think I'm heading in the right direction.

Nearly there. Finished my necromunda gangs. The pile of shame is less a 'pile' and more 'last remnants'. My spreadsheet says I'm at 95% painted. I'm almost at the point of considering new projects.

I have the following remaining projects:

10x spire tyrants for warcry. Still on the sprue.

20x mk4 marines - half assembled and all 'bits' - arms, legs, guns etc are painted. I have seven 'torsos and legs' to do completely and the rest is assembly and highlighting.

Space marine vanguard starter. Iirc 18 models. Still on sprue.

These are both for my my Raptors chapter. This is my 'absolutely all in' project. Basing, full highlights on everything, appropriate and thematic conversions etc.

6x mounted samurai for test of honour. Models need basecosting and painting. Historical stuff for me typically get a 'basic' job.

21x infinity models. 1 Ariadna vet Kazakh with hmg, 1 Ariadna mormaer with hmg. Primed and ready to paint. Also stripped my yu-Jing dudes. Mainly power armour - wu-Ming, 3 generations of invincibles, and a few domaru butai. Fancy doing a better job of them and will aim for a more metallic scheme this time. Thinking along the lines of turning them into 'not-40k' minotaurs.

Mk4 are the current job. Then probsbly the samurai and spire tyrants.

I finally managed to finish off my huge pile of unbuilt kits a few weeks ago

Now I have a huge cabinet full of unpainted models instead

 Hanskrampf wrote:
I haven been slowly chipping away at the BFG Navy Fleet and after multiple hours of yellow layer after yellow layer to get a good coverage, I needed something different, so I tried my hand at painting the engines.

Not totally satisfied with it yet, but I think I'm heading in the right direction.

Spoiler:

Definitely the right direction. In fact, I'd probably be satisfied with that depending on how many models I had to paint.

Started on my bounder in earnest last night, getting a good chunk of the base coating done. Probably going green tonight to do the skin on the riders.

Built about half the Dark Imperium Marine half last night before bed. Hoping to finish them this week and get them primed at least.

Been chipping away at my 10 Bestigor from Start Collecting Beastmen. They are taking me a while, but that is mostly because they are intricate models with a lot of detail. At the wash stage now, and I think they are coming along really well. Once I finish them, I will be doing my metal Demagorgon and the Shaman as a reward.

I prepped and primed two squads of RT-era Terminators. It's sorta something. . . meh.

A little late to the party, but I really should do something about my pile of shame.
Even cataloguing what is in it would be the work of several weeks, so I'll stick to what I can remember/is feasible to tackle this year.

I'm not going to include board game miniatures as although they are in my backlog (HATE, Joan of Arc, MB, Zombicide Green Horde, etc etc) they are board game pieces so I would consider them a luxury to be painted, rather than a necessity as I do with wargaming pieces. I do have Blackstone Fortress to do as well, though.

Now when I put my mind to it I can churn out an army fairly quickly (I did 4000pts of my Chaos Marines in about 4 weeks last spring) so while I don't expect to do that every month I think I can aim to do an army a quarter. Providing I behave myself and don't buy anything more, and limit my 3d printing activities to conversion parts for my projects, I think I can make a dent.

Unbuilt/painted armies in my backlog:

AOS Kharadron Overlords (3490pts)
AOS Nurgle Rotbringers (4620 pts)
AOS Stormcast Eternals (5000ish pts)
AOS Fyreslayers (1440pts)
AOS Daughters of Khaine (1600pts)
AOS Cities of Sigmar (3150pts)
AOS Beasts of Chaos (2500pts)
40k Tyranids (3000ish pts)
40k Genestealer Cults (3000ish pts)

...ouch.

I also have an Imperial Guard army and a Space Marines army at various stages of completion, but the marines are shelved for a while and the guard tie into my Genestealer Cults so it may be the case that they get rolled into that.

My intention is to tackle an army at a time, beginning with the Kharadron as I've already started printing pirate hats for them. After that I haven't quite decided what to do next- probably Rotbringers, then for the remaining two for the year Genestealer Cults and one other. That's my optimistic plan, anyway.

Soon finished with my second and main CSM warband, just some more Havocs to get done.

Then i need to do some more BSF stuff for my R&H fodder

Finished off some terrain.

I have for my showcase I'm working on

5 primed death company marines
10 primed/ shaded assault marines
2 built/ unpainted tactical squads
5 built/ unpainted bikes
1 built/ unpainted baal predator
Weapons for an Angel Infernus minus the land raider so kinda pointless atm.

And I still need moar vehicles but the prices now are insane.

I also have in the cabinet

3x ORB Necromunda gangs, Van Saar, Cawdor and Delaque.

And a Terminus ultra that I started and am now hung up on the triple las cannon on single sponson mod.

 Hanskrampf wrote:
I haven been slowly chipping away at the BFG Navy Fleet and after multiple hours of yellow layer after yellow layer to get a good coverage, I needed something different, so I tried my hand at painting the engines.

Not totally satisfied with it yet, but I think I'm heading in the right direction.

Spoiler:

Oooo, Battlefleet Gothic! I haven’t played that in ages. That engine looks really cool!

I’m working on my Hellblasters and Dread and my Imperial Fists are done! It’s an army I’ve been working on since 5th ed and it’s finally close to painted. It really did not help out that I could not find a yellow combination I liked. I’ll get some pics posted after they are all done to help motivate myself to do more and hopefully motivate you all as well.

Eliminated my CSM pile of shame.

Am now proud owner of a CSM horde warband

Got the skin down on my bounders. Tonight I need to do some of the fungus and texture the bases, then they'll need a wash and a ton of detailing and highlights. Still, the army is really starting to come together. Hoping to have it done by the end of March.

My Beastmen warband is about done, at least the GW part of it. Still gotta do the Shaman, and put the forest basing stuff on the Bestigors.




I am happy with how they came out. Maybe a bit sloppy in places, but painted god-damnit!

I recently finished off a unit that had been in my closet for several years. These are Warzone Imperials from their starter box back in the 90s. Still easy to find online for not very much. The material is absolute dogshit to work with, however. It's hard, slightly brittle and extremely glossy, and the moulding and parts design is somewhat crude, so there's a lot of work you need to do to make these presentable. The proportions also feel off compared to metal Warzone miniatures, though I have none around to test against.



Out of my 16 or so, I built a little 40k-legal unit of 10 Tempestus Scions with some volley guns (because those hilariously big Charger HMGs deserve to be used for something). These were a one-night job with zero frills, but I'm happy with the color scheme I came up with, with the khaki cloth and slightly tarnished gloss black armor plating. The weak point is probably the metal helmet and rebreather combos.

At the stage I'm at now I've now put a complete freeze on all gaming purchases until I've put a big dent in my backlog particularly for Malifaux. It's not especially huge, but it's noticeable for me as a lazy painter. Plan is to do it with the following first:

Batman and DC miniatures- 20 models, 5 of which are already half finished. I'm aiming to get most of this done over the next week as well so it's a realistic goal
Blood Bowl- New league starting up, and my Skaven team are almost entirely finished (15 model roster with 3 needing a fair bit of work, the other 12 nearly done)
Warcry- The starter set minus the Iron Golems, plus a Chimera and Gitz warband. Solid week of work will knock it over I just have to get around to it
Malifaux- The big one in terms of completing projects. I've got a lot of crews needing 5-6 models to finish and a couple completely unpainted, but by organising it to specific crews the job appears a lot more viable in a short amount of time
Star Wars Legion- got a bunch of Rebels to paint, they'll be fairly quick basecoat/wash/highlight jobs but there's a fair few to get through and I want to put effort into the basing which will take a while.
Lord of the Rings- about 1200 points of Easterlings in some stage of completion. I can get them done quickly but there's a lot to get through and I'm not motivated to batch paint in those numbers, and then there's the 50-odd orcs I have for allies

There are more than this (The Other Side and Bolt Action full armies with 50-60 models each plus Necromunda and Kill Team) but these are the ones I plan on doing first to get them done. The plan is to get Batman and Blood Bowl done (or very close to it) in the next week and then start chipping through Warcry and the Malifaux backlog mixing things up as I go as they are the priorities in gaming at the moment

I'm wavering on the moment on whether or not I want to really push to complete my Batman stuff or sell off my GCPD stuff to help clear the backlog and just stick to Batfam.

Likewise, while I've been coasting on my fully painted Guild for a while, I really need to turn my attention to finishing my other Malifaux crews. Good chunk of the backlog there I just need to finish.

For now thought.... gitz. Gotta keep focused on finishing them up. Luckily not too many new releases have my attention at the moment, though I'd really like to get a Destroyer army in MonPoc going to I can grab monsters from either side that catch my eye. The ooze monster has my attention at the moment.

My “pile of shame” is tucked away in a big box however the box is painfully large it contains...

Warhammer AOS/Fantasy

3 skycutters
60 Lothern sea guard
3 Chariots
30 Shadow warriors
20 reavers
Dark elf lord on dragon
15 Cold one knights
2 Chariots
60 Blood wytches
Shine of khaine
Assassin
Morathi
10 Lifetakers
Captain
60 Corsairs
1 Hydra
Wood elf lord on Great stag
2 tree singers
16 Hunters
3 war hawkriders
Watcher
40 Archers
16 Scouts
Treeman
60 Eternal Guard
2 Dwarf lords
70 Dwarves
20 Ironbreaker
Runelord
30 Thunderers
4 Cannons
2 Organ guns
3 Gyrocopters
Troll slayer character
Skeleton lord
30 Grave guard
200 Skeletons
vampire
20 Black Knights
5 Vampire knights
Necromancer
Orc shaman
160 orcs
6 Trolls
Grimgore Ironhide
25 Black orcs
orc on wryven
20 Boar boys
2 Chariots
Giant
3 demigrif knights
60 empire Spearmen
8 empire knights
30 knights errant
12 Questing knights
5 Pegusus Knights
40 Men at arms
32 Archers
20 pilgrims
1 Catapult
3 Ladies of the lake

40k
30 Cadian shock troops
Two heavy weapon teams
3 Leman russ battle tanks
8 tau pathfinders
3 stealth suits
Battlesuit commander
Riptide
Vizarch
20 dire avengers
2 wave serpents
15 wraithguard
2 Wraithlords
1 wraithknight
2 spritsingers
Ulthran
Yvraine
Lelith Hesperax
2 Sucubui
2 Venoms
20 Wyches
5 Scourges
6 Reavers
Razorwing jetfighter
Abaddon
20 Chaos Marines
5 Terminators
5 Havocs
3 Obliterators
Ahriman
3 Exalted Sorcerers
20 Rubric Marines
5 Scarab Occult Terminators
Patriarch
Magos
Primus
Abominant
20 Neophyte hybrids
5 Aberrants
Rockgrinder
Nexos
Jackal Atalan
5 Atalan jackles
3 Cult Scout Sentinels
ridgerunners
Captain General
10 Custodian guard
3 Allarus Custoians
3 Vertus Praetors
Hive Tyrant
120Hormagaunts
20 Gargoyles
2 Carnifex
Tyrgon Prime
3 Nobs in mega armour
Big Mec
Mec
90 Orks
6 Killa kans
2 Deff dread
Stompa
Belisarius cawl
Tech priest Domius
20 Skitarii Rangers
5 Sicarian ruststalker
2 Ironstrider
1 Onager Dunecrawler
Imperial Knight Paladin
2 Armiger Warglave

Jeez I’m disgusted with myself

I added five Reivers and a jump Captain with Lighting Claws * to my finished pile for February.

* Any resemblance to Kaavyn Shike is purely coincidental.

Glued together the mid-tier walls for my Bastion this evening (still need to fit the heavy bolters, but wanted the structural side in place first.

Managed to spray one of the - *checks notes* - Thermic Plasma Regulators with Leadbelcher this morning. The light wasn't brilliant, so silver spray over a red/brown plastic wasn't the easiest to see. Unfortunately this means one small section got a little too much paint, but most of the rest looks fine.

This mostly-positive interaction with Leadbelcher increases the odds on me working on my Knights this year - I have four Helvigers, the contents of the Renegade game, and a Castellan to build and paint at some stage. Building the chassis and spraying it with Leadbelcher as a starting point is a lot more attractive than spraying it black and manually painting the metallics on...

The Newman wrote:
Just finished another five Interceasors, putting me up to 33 models for the month. I have five Reivers and Shrike 60% of the way done, finishing them before the 1st looks iffy.

I've reached the conclusion that the 50-model pace I set in January was unsustainable but not really anomalous. I'd started the month with several things nearly complete and wrapped some things up right at the end, February therefore started with fresh units. March is looking like it will also start with a couple of units near to completion. I think it will average out over the year and 35-40 models a month will still run me out of units to paint before September.

...apparently I spoke too soon. Not only did I finish the Reivers and Shike, I also finished the Cataphracii Terminators that were the next thing in line. 44 models in 29 days. Of course, that's going to get March off to a slow start because the next squad up is Incursors (there's a lot of gubbins to pick out on those guys) and the next two squads in the queue have no work done at all.

I've done pretty good this year so far.

I have completed:
20 Intercessors
6 Flamestorm Aggressors
Gravis caprain
Primaris Lieutenant
Imperial Space Marine

Still to go:
10 Intercessors
15 Hellblasters
9 Assault Bolter Inceptors
Primaris Captain with power fist and plasma pistol
Primaris Lieutenant with power sword
Primaris Ancient
Primaris Apothacary
Primaris Chaplain

Currently going to focus on 6 Inceptors, the 15 Hellblasters and the Primaris Apothacary ready for a tournament at the end of May, but with the amount I've done I'm hopeful I will get much more done.

My progress has slowed, after 35 minis in January I managed 3 in February. With 2 marine characters on my desk I’ll probably only make it to a round 40 by the end of March. With more Blackstone Fortress stuff on the horizon I need the weather to improve so I can get priming and keep the nett total the right side of zero (currently +25).

Good luck whittling down those piles!

Well I only failed no buy February by buying one mini

Then on the first day of March I buy another 20 models....

HOWEVER! I painted a bunch last week. So I feel like I earned the right to buy more....also with that said, behold my GW Castle! In all it's Glory!!!

Finishing up the highlights on my Bounders. Once its done I've got my Mangler boss to go to 1000. Hoping to finish the rest of my gitz in March, but will likely take a minute to paint a couple models to test out 3rd Ed of Batman soon.

That castle is epic!

I've finished a couple more models, and done some terrain since my last post. 49/0 on models painted/bought. Not sure how to quantify the terrain, I might just take a photo at the end of the year.

Last week I was traveling for work, so I did not get time to paint any new things, but I also did not buy anything to paint.

Not buying was a challenge as I stopped at a few LGSs on my travels.

Last Saturday I was overwhelmed when I went in for paints... And I bought the Sabbat Worlds Crusade book and the Storm Strike starter set for Age of Sigmar.... I don't even play Age of Sigmar!

3 aberrants off the to paint pile and into the completed pile taking me to 52/0

So i have a slightly Off topic but kinda relevent topic.
does anyone ever get Anxiety from just thinking about all they have to paint. I have WAY to many unpainted Miniatures in my back pocket, some are projects half finised that i have yet to commit to do to lack of drive or funds, som are just used models i bought on a whim, some are just kinda things i accumulated over time.
Any Idea on how to fight this and how to maintain sanity and such. Before i used to sell things off but it doesnt seem to always work. Sometimes its just giving stuff away(its not that big of a deal to me, my friends do it too, its the circle of life in warhammer lol)
But what can i do?

I made a dent... but then I bought a bunch of stuff to keep on the backburner...

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
So i have a slightly Off topic but kinda relevent topic.
does anyone ever get Anxiety from just thinking about all they have to paint. I have WAY to many unpainted Miniatures in my back pocket, some are projects half finised that i have yet to commit to do to lack of drive or funds, som are just used models i bought on a whim, some are just kinda things i accumulated over time.
Any Idea on how to fight this and how to maintain sanity and such. Before i used to sell things off but it doesnt seem to always work. Sometimes its just giving stuff away(its not that big of a deal to me, my friends do it too, its the circle of life in warhammer lol)
But what can i do?

Yes I have to a degree. I tend to work on 3 or 4 projects at once, usually painting one mini at a time. That way I slowly make progress on everything.

The trouble with that however is the fact that it leads to me having many projects all half done and the end nowhere in sight. Over the weekend I sat down and burned through a bunch of terrain I had sitting around and I managed to finish it! I think I'm just going to pick one project and just go all in on it to get it done.

I'm starting to think just trying to finish something can go a long way to helping the anxiety.

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
So i have a slightly Off topic but kinda relevent topic.
does anyone ever get Anxiety from just thinking about all they have to paint. I have WAY to many unpainted Miniatures in my back pocket, some are projects half finised that i have yet to commit to do to lack of drive or funds, som are just used models i bought on a whim, some are just kinda things i accumulated over time.
Any Idea on how to fight this and how to maintain sanity and such. Before i used to sell things off but it doesnt seem to always work. Sometimes its just giving stuff away(its not that big of a deal to me, my friends do it too, its the circle of life in warhammer lol)
But what can i do?

What helps me, is I pack it all up and only have two projects going at a time.

When I say I pack it all away, it means everything. Paints, models, brushes, tools, etc. I don;t have a set workstation to paint. Everytime I pull it all out and then pack it all away.

Out of sight, out of mind.

The next thing I do, is I work with my schedule to schedule actual time to paint. Typically in blocks of 1 to 4 hours every other week. Then, when the time comes I paint. If it is not painting time, I don't. This still allows me to do family stuff, have a life, do chores, etc.

Finally, when I am in a real bad place, I try not to paint alone. If painting is a social activity it is way more fun. Plus, you get positive encouragement on your progress.

I hope it helps.

Absolutely. I really enjoy painting, but there reaches a point where getting through the backlog feels like an obligation that can get overwhelming. That feeling is what really inspiring me to get organized and attack the problem head on. I put it all in a spreadsheet so I could really appreciate the work load. While that creates some anxiety of its own, it also makes it a lot easier to recognize the problems and realized that just trying to paint it all isn't really a solution.

Part of it is recognizing the need to attack the problem from a few angles. You've got a backlog because you've bought things faster than you paint them. That means you either need to paint more or buy less. I'd actually ignore what you have in the backlog at first. Focus on figuring out what you can do in a month and budget your purchases accordingly. Being able to recognize that a purchase represents time you have to put into painting it can be a better deterrent than the cost sometimes. It's a great litmus test for "I'm I being a completionist or is this a priority?"

Once you've stabilized the throughput, you can start attacking the backlog. It's basically just another form of budgeting. To get into the backlog, you have to forgo something new you might want. Maybe that stops you from getting something new... maybe that helps you realize you need to sell some stuff. Either way, just measuring your progress is a great way to keep it from getting out of hand and moving the unpainted needle in the right direction.

Shhhh... fewer than 10 figures to BUILD.... mumble mumble figures still to PAINT....

The backlog anxiety is a big part of why I started this thread. Being busy, using purchasing minis as a surrogate for actual quality hobby time, and not actually having much hobby time has lead to my giant pile.

So this year, just not buying any miniatures, no matter how much I want to.

My other change is, I used to paint stuff for my roleplaying game on a pretty strict timetable. That worked really well as a motivator for me to a certain point, but then I burned out on it and stopped painting much for ages. So now I am just painting whatever I am the most inspired by, whatever I find myself daydreaming about, or wishing I could purchase a model for, I just paint that. No goal other than to enjoy painting what I am interested in.

That seems to be working, although lack of free time is still sort of tanking my productivity!

 hotsauceman1 wrote:

does anyone ever get Anxiety from just thinking about all they have to paint.

This has been a problem for me. I was concerned that my purchasing was outpacing my painting so I created spreadsheets that enumerated my painting backlog. This was supposed to discourage unregulated buying as I would have a quantified account of how much work I have to do. It's been backfiring though because seeing that staggering amount of miniatures has been a bit soul crushing and actually demotivated me from painting because it seems insurmountable.

My solution has been to unclutter my work space and my tracking sheets. Seeing a few models on a desk makes you think you can complete them in short order. Seeing 60 models there makes you think you'll never finish and what's the point of starting. So I've packed away assembled, unpainted minis in a box that I can dip into when inspiration hits. Also, I've changed my tracking sheets to separate them by army. So whenever I look at any one army's tracking sheet I see what models I've bought and have not painted for that army, but I'm not confronted by the whole weight of my purchases.

You seem to be doing the right thing already by selling/giving away minis that you have no plans to paint. This has helped me unburden my backlog. Lastly, I'm trying my best to assemble the minis whenever I buy them now. Even if I don't have the inspiration to finish painting them immediately, the next time inspiration strikes for that army at least I'm not daunted by having to both assemble and paint.

bogalubov wrote:

 hotsauceman1 wrote:

does anyone ever get Anxiety from just thinking about all they have to paint.

You seem to be doing the right thing already by selling/giving away minis that you have no plans to paint. This has helped me unburden my backlog. Lastly, I'm trying my best to assemble the minis whenever I buy them now. Even if I don't have the inspiration to finish painting them immediately, the next time inspiration strikes for that army at least I'm not daunted by having to both assemble and paint.

See, for me Assembling is the problem, i assemble and they stay there just waiting to be painted.

I would suggest to continue to try limiting your purchases (especially buying a lot in one go) and then only having manageable projects visible on your paint desk. But the struggle is real. Especially for folks like myself that have a hard time staying focused on one army and game system.

bogalubov wrote:
I would suggest to continue to try limiting your purchases (especially buying a lot in one go) and then only having manageable projects visible on your paint desk. But the struggle is real. Especially for folks like myself that have a hard time staying focused on one army and game system.

Five Intercessors? No problem.
Ten Daemonnettes? No problem.
Repulsor? No problem.
All three? No problem.
One kitbashed Primaris Chaplain, one Master Tech Marine (aka The Iron Father), one Slanneshi Daemon Prince, Herald, and Infernal Enrapturess? Problem. It's a third of the models, but the diversity of them is too much.

bogalubov wrote:
I would suggest to continue to try limiting your purchases (especially buying a lot in one go) and then only having manageable projects visible on your paint desk. But the struggle is real. Especially for folks like myself that have a hard time staying focused on one army and game system.

Absolutely to the bolded part. Nothing gets more discouraging than having other projects loom over you. The only time I like having multiple units on my table is when I know I'll be block painting them.

If you are going to have a spot to place assembled miniatures, either put them in boxes or up on shelves out of your normal line of sight. But be careful - they also have a habit of multiplying if you don't check every so often.

 hotsauceman1 wrote:

bogalubov wrote:

 hotsauceman1 wrote:

does anyone ever get Anxiety from just thinking about all they have to paint.

You seem to be doing the right thing already by selling/giving away minis that you have no plans to paint. This has helped me unburden my backlog. Lastly, I'm trying my best to assemble the minis whenever I buy them now. Even if I don't have the inspiration to finish painting them immediately, the next time inspiration strikes for that army at least I'm not daunted by having to both assemble and paint.

See, for me Assembling is the problem, i assemble and they stay there just waiting to be painted.

I tend to assemble two squads at a time, then paint them in an alternating method, then base them.

No purchases or other assembly until they are done.

 infinite_array wrote:

bogalubov wrote:
I would suggest to continue to try limiting your purchases (especially buying a lot in one go) and then only having manageable projects visible on your paint desk. But the struggle is real. Especially for folks like myself that have a hard time staying focused on one army and game system.

Absolutely to the bolded part. Nothing gets more discouraging than having other projects loom over you. The only time I like having multiple units on my table is when I know I'll be block painting them.

If you are going to have a spot to place assembled miniatures, either put them in boxes or up on shelves out of your normal line of sight. But be careful - they also have a habit of multiplying if you don't check every so often.

I find having two or three things on the desk at a time actually helps because when I get to a stage on one unit that needs to dry for a while before I can continue I have something else sitting there to work on. Three is about the limit though, I grabbed that handful of characters thinking I would do them as a single block, but mentally they're three different blocks because they're different colors and that means I have five things on the desk. I keep drifting off-task because it's too many things.

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
So i have a slightly Off topic but kinda relevent topic.
does anyone ever get Anxiety from just thinking about all they have to paint. I have WAY to many unpainted Miniatures in my back pocket, some are projects half finised that i have yet to commit to do to lack of drive or funds, som are just used models i bought on a whim, some are just kinda things i accumulated over time.
Any Idea on how to fight this and how to maintain sanity and such. Before i used to sell things off but it doesnt seem to always work. Sometimes its just giving stuff away(its not that big of a deal to me, my friends do it too, its the circle of life in warhammer lol)
But what can i do?

Yes.
I got to the stage where it felt like a job. There was so much to do I had to do it - even at the expense of work or relationships.

There are lots of good suggestions here.

The things which helped me most have been

1. Setting myself a lower 'table ready' standard which is basically all main colours done PLUS just basing the model with a simple grey paint (I use Skavenblight Dinge as it matches my terrrain). It is surprisingly quick to whack grey on 40 Terminator bases and covering up the prime paint or black plastic make a massive difference. Of course, I can always go back later and do better nading and painting, can't I?

2. The other thing was sort and label everything. I had a lot of stuff in Ebayed shoes boxes...I put all in Really Useful Boxes and then labelled them and all my tins (all models have magnetized bases) so that I can see exactly what I have got. This makes it easy to chose next project.

3. I do concentrate on particular units with the aim of getting to a minimal TT standard. (See 1). Or a small Army. So my Death Guard and Cult armies are playable...but not finished but they are nearly there. Most importantly, I can PLAY with them.

4. Not buying new stuff. New didn't include Ebay. This is an error. But by buying premade vehicles they are not quite the time sink they could be.

5. I have used a speed sheet but the aim was alwaya to drag as many minia as possible to the next 'level'. Levels being: Priemd: Main base coloir: Four other base colours: base painted.


I think its important to remember,this is about fun. When it stops being fun, do it differently until it is fun again.

I find having a load of different minis on the go at once helps me. I have 4 little plastic drawers each with 3 shelves, so I can have as many as 12 projects on the go at once. When I feel like painting, I have so much choice and variation in the models available to me there is never a time I can’t be bothered because i’m only painting more blue space marines etc. It’s important to me that it’s all tidy though. If I had all the models sat on a desk 24/7 i’d quickly get tired of looking at them. All my paints and brushes go into 2 of the old citadel project boxes. All models are stored in the little plastic shelves. Nothing gets left out when I’m done.

I discovered the key to working down my pile of shame. paying my roommate to doing it for me. Now I don't have to worry about dnd minis, and focus soley on my 40k, necromunda, and AOS stuff. lol

Added 5 Incursors and a kit-bashed Chaplain to my gallery. Kind of a slow start for March, but February started slow too and I still got quite a bit done.

2 more aberrants and 2 neophyte hybrids completed taking me to 56 models completed this year.

balmong7 wrote:
I discovered the key to working down my pile of shame. paying my roommate to doing it for me. Now I don't have to worry about dnd minis, and focus soley on my 40k, necromunda, and AOS stuff. lol

Best way to stop DnD miniatures from needing to be painted is....dont use miniatures in DnD, just use theater of the mind. LOL, saves me time.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 infinite_array wrote:

bogalubov wrote:
I would suggest to continue to try limiting your purchases (especially buying a lot in one go) and then only having manageable projects visible on your paint desk. But the struggle is real. Especially for folks like myself that have a hard time staying focused on one army and game system.

Absolutely to the bolded part. Nothing gets more discouraging than having other projects loom over you. The only time I like having multiple units on my table is when I know I'll be block painting them.

If you are going to have a spot to place assembled miniatures, either put them in boxes or up on shelves out of your normal line of sight. But be careful - they also have a habit of multiplying if you don't check every so often.

What would be defined as managable?
Cause like, right now i have 10 infiltrators, 3 surpressors, primaris captain for a painting competition, 2 thunderfires on my desk, and like, around the room a bunch of primed models ready and rearing.
The problem i face is sometimes i just THINK of what i have and it goes like "Well feth, i got that too"

I find it much less overwhelming to only work on 1 project at a time to keep the anxiety away. Even then I’d keep the numbers so I don’t get bored painting lots of large areas the same. So Marines about 5 max, but units with with smaller areas I’ll do up to 20.

As for my pile I’m closing on finishing 2 more, but have primed my next few minis that I hope to get through this month.

Forgive me father for I have sinned, in February I purchased

The original 2001 fellowship of the ring
Bilbo baggins
The death of sauron
The three hunters
Radagast the Brown

Yeah I'm on a lord of the rings kick.. Been watching it with the wife.

However, I did finish calas typhon, and thorin vs azog.

I also sold a some stuff on ebay.. Managed to offload gabriel angelos, an old metal escher juve, a 2016 limited edition space marine, and my old kitbashed genestealer cult battleforce which consists of about 30 models, so all in all (with a bit of cheating) I'm in the black this month.

I'm now at a stage where all my stuff when completed should fit in my display cabinets.

Selling some models is something I'd recommend everyone considers. It's a great way to shift a load of stuff at a time, and help you focus on the things you really want to paint. I have a look through mine every now and then and see what chaff I can thin out. Ask yourself, am I really ever going to paint this? Do I really want to paint it or is there a list that will take months or years before I get round to it (and that's before new purchases!)

Finished up my master techmarine, aka The Iron Father. It's unusual for me to get a single model done by itself, but as has been mentioned I put him in on the table as part of a painting block of several characters and that didn't work out the way I'd intended.

On a totally unrelated note, does anyone know how to get signatures to show up when viewing these forums on a mobile? I'm not normally this thick but damned if I can figure it out.

It was going well, painted several of my genestealer cult models, finished my carnosaur, even painted a blood bowl team for a friend (it at least saved me buying them) , back log lowered from ludicrous to stupid levels left, ( looking at you orks and eldar AND half or rogue trader set)...

I bought a ossriach bonereaper army out of a charity shop 300 quid worth of models in decent condition for 35 pounds , please forgive me! WHY do the gods of plastic tempt me so.

Uh, so I guess this is more a cupboard of shame...(yes, that pile is at least 2 boxes deep)



In my defence, 75% of my minis are built and painted, but still...

Still progress is being made, have done about 15 epic detachments this year and I’m currently working through a banner of Titanicus knights

This weekend did see some distraction cleaning up and repairing my old 1/72 aircraft kits for my son’s ceiling (spoliered as they are not 40k related)

 Gordy2000 wrote:
Uh, so I guess this is more a cupboard of shame...(yes, that pile is at least 2 boxes deep)



In my defence, 75% of my minis are built and painted, but still...

Still progress is being made, have done about 15 epic detachments this year and I’m currently working through a banner of Titanicus knights

This weekend did see some distraction cleaning up and repairing my old 1/72 aircraft kits for my son’s ceiling (spoliered as they are not 40k related)

Spoiler:

That is quite some cupboard!

 Gordy2000 wrote:
Uh, so I guess this is more a cupboard of shame...(yes, that pile is at least 2 boxes deep)

I have a similar cupboard. And then a room. And then part of my hallway...

Hah, I also have a cupboard of shame. Should take some pictures of it...

Wow! I hope you’ve got those insured, that’s a pretty penny stashed away in your cupboard!

An Infernal Enrapturess, a Herald of Slannesh, and Syll'Esske. Puts me at 10 models for the month.

Man...., my pile of shame is way WAY smaller.....i feel better now.

I removed my pile of unbuilt shame.

I now have a bigger pile off badly painted shame and a pile of soon to be painted shame

 Rygnan wrote:

Batman and DC miniatures- 20 models, 5 of which are already half finished. I'm aiming to get most of this done over the next week as well so it's a realistic goal
Blood Bowl- New league starting up, and my Skaven team are almost entirely finished (15 model roster with 3 needing a fair bit of work, the other 12 nearly done)
Warcry- The starter set minus the Iron Golems, plus a Chimera and Gitz warband. Solid week of work will knock it over I just have to get around to it
Malifaux- The big one in terms of completing projects. I've got a lot of crews needing 5-6 models to finish and a couple completely unpainted, but by organising it to specific crews the job appears a lot more viable in a short amount of time
Star Wars Legion- got a bunch of Rebels to paint, they'll be fairly quick basecoat/wash/highlight jobs but there's a fair few to get through and I want to put effort into the basing which will take a while.
Lord of the Rings- about 1200 points of Easterlings in some stage of completion. I can get them done quickly but there's a lot to get through and I'm not motivated to batch paint in those numbers, and then there's the 50-odd orcs I have for allies

Update on everything I've worked on
Batman/DC- I've painted 6 of them with 4 more almost finished. That's half done by tomorrow night
Blood Bowl- I finished the bulk of the team, just 3 more to go. This week's project is getting them done
Warcry- Chimera will be done tomorrow, so that's a start. Plan is to get the Untamed Beasts started soon

All up not going fantastically, but I'm trucking along at a decent pace so I can't really complain at all either. Mostly painting whatever I feel like at the time which I think is the best way to do it

Sitting on a shelf in my display case is a unit of 40 Orc boys that have been half done for the last...5 years or so? I guess. half of them are based with basic colours, the other 20 are unbased and waiting to get done.

I decided I'm going to do it. I'm going to finish painting all 40 and knock this off my list of minis I need to paint.

Nice! Good luck!

I finished the highlights on my Mangler Squigs. Time to start on the Stabbas, which shouldn't take TOO long all things considering, though first I have a few kaiju and superheroes to paint.

Made a list of every model that need paitning. crossed a few off
Surpressors, 10 infiltrators and two thunderfires with gunners.
im hoping to have the list corrsed off by sometime in june.

Built the mounts of 3 Vanguard Palladors, not exactly breaking the back of the grey mountain but it's the first glueing of models in a long time.

I call the big one "Bitey":



Almost done with the Loonshrine. Then it will be a weekend of priming.